Paperless muni courts set to go online — or not

Never one to let petty details stand in the way of progress, the City of Houston is ringing in the new year by trying once again to put its "paperless" traffic ticket system online. When it was approved in 2003, the Integrated Case Management System was advertised as a way to scan all traffic tickets and put them in a computer system that could be pulled up in municipal courtrooms — the epitome of modern justice. But two years and $26 million later, it still hasn't worked. And if it all goes as planned this time, it might not be much of an improvement:

The new system has been proudly touted by the City as being "paperless". This poses several logistical problems in the courtroom that the planners have not taken into consideration.

For instance, there are no computer monitors on which Houston Police officers can review their tickets in the courtroom. Under the old system, the officers would come in and look at their paper tickets which were attached to the complaints to determine if they still recalled the facts of a particular case being called for trial. If the officer recalled the case, he would advise the prosecutor that he was "ready" for trial. If he did not recall the facts of the case, he would advise the prosecutor that he was "not ready" for trial.

When the new computer system goes paperless, traffic tickets will be electronically scanned and stored in the new computer system. However, the police officers will have no computer monitors in any of the courtrooms on which to review their tickets. Over 1200 cases a day are set for jury trial and there is no way for police officers to review a single one of these tickets in any of the courtrooms.

There are other concerns about the ICMS, too. For one, each courtroom will only have two computer monitors where dozens of lawyers, officers and defendants can review complaints. If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting the Municipal Courts Building, you know the amount of people there every day — imagine them all sharing a handful of monitors. It's not pretty. Moreover, in an attempt to cut back on court clerks, the ICMS will require judges to enter their rulings on each case into the computer system, meaning judges will have to take on work traditionally left to clerks.

Critics of the system fear it'll all add up to delays even worse than the ones under the old system. On the bright side, this might be a great time to get a traffic ticket. After all, when are the odds going to be better that the judge won't be able to figure out how to make a ruling on your case?