Staffing for 24/7/365 operations, such as a police department, is difficult for administrative teams as is. When you factor in the additional duties and responsibilities of a police officer, such as court appearances, it complicates the law enforcement scheduling process even further.
Court appearances are a regular responsibility for most police officers. Police officers are often called to testify in cases where they’ve made an arrest or have observed facts related to a case. However, this additional scheduling complicates a police department’s regular shift schedule and rotations. According to a Public Safety Canada report on Improving Police Efficiencies, “The issue of scheduling officers to appear as witnesses in court was frequently mentioned by respondents as a major cause of police and justice system inefficiencies.” For this reason, every police department should consider implementing a scheduling software that sync’s their officers’ shift schedules with the judicial system.
Using a court subpoena management system, police departments can see the electronic subpoena and view all their court appearance information in one system. Being notified immediately of court appearances will ultimately help a police department function more efficiently, and reduce the risk of miscommunication between your police department, witnesses and the court.
In this article, we’ve outlined four additional benefits of court subpoena scheduling software:
Enhanced police agency efficiency and organization
The biggest benefit of court subpoena scheduling is the transparency and visibility it provides your police department with. Using court subpoena scheduling software, court events are displayed on your officers’ regular schedules and shift rosters. Your police department can approve subpoenas and have the court date automatically visible in your schedule. Coordinating schedules and having every assignment in one place will greatly enhance department operations and scheduling efficiency.
In addition to increasing department efficiency, implementing scheduling software with court subpoena features will also enhance your police department’s organization. Using a court subpoena feature, you can now sync your regular schedule with your court schedule. Your police department can view all of your court dates in one place, so you can plan for patrol and extra-duty coverage.
Improved witness communication
Court subpoena scheduling software simplifies the witness communication process. Instead of having to track down a time that works for your witnesses to appear in court, your scheduling software can see witness availability before selecting court dates. This allows your agency to save time on back-and-forth communication between your police department, the judicial system and your witnesses.
Real-time court notifications
By syncing your schedule with your justice system, you enable real-time notifications for any trial changes or case updates. If any cancellations are made, your scheduling software will automatically notify you of the change and have the change visible on your schedule.
Real-time, automated notifications also share the exact location of your court date, which removes any guesswork. This notification feature saves valuable time that would typically be spent on back-and-forth communication with the justice system.
Better court reports and insights
All police departments need to know where their time and money are going. With court reports and insights, your police department can see how much time you’re spending on each case. Scheduling software with court subpoena capabilities gives you detailed information on how many hours and resources are spent on specific cases, which allows you to improve your budget forecasting. This information also allows your department to see who’s working each case, and what type of overtime it falls under and gain valuable insights into court call-offs.
The bottom line
Scheduling for police departments is much easier with court subpoena scheduling software. Court subpoena scheduling software improves an organization’s organization, efficiency and witness communication. It allows police departments to stay up to date with last minute court changes, and ultimately provides police departments with the reports they need to gain valuable insights.
Check out InTime’s Court + Subpoena modules to see if InTime is right for your police department.