Pitch for Courtbot

[drichers]

Who we are
Why are we doing this
How it works
How much money can be saved
ask about 5 minute follow up

[drichers]

Time saved from not having to fill out more paperwork
Compliance
Revenue

[ezrinjaz]

Who are the stakeholders?
Individuals
City
County
State
Non-Profits

What are each of their interests?

Individuals - Not missing court dates, not being incarcerated, less money spent on fines

City/County/State - Government money is spent on the cost of keeping someone incarcerated and that money goes to private prison systems. Fewer incarcerations means money is saved/decreased budget spending, decreased payroll expenses on processing incarcerated individuals.

Non-Profits - Don't have to use as many resources to help people. Achieving their mission.

[drichers]

Who we are
We are with Code for Muskogee which is a branch of a national non profit
called Code for America. We try to leverage technology against gaps in local government
to try and make things better for the administration and its local residents.

We are with Code for Muskogee, a Brigade of the national non-profit, Code for America. We leverage
technology to make local government more efficient for the people.

What we do
We are working on a project called Courtbot that attempts to break the cycle
of missed court dates which stacks their fines higher and higher. Texting a
court case number to our service is all it takes for someone to get a 24 hour
reminder

CourtBot is an SMS text application designed to break the cycle of missed court dates and increased incarcerations. To use, simply text a case number to the CourtBot phone number to receive court date notifications.

Why they should care
Reminders promote compliance. Compliance with court dates potentially eliminates extra paperwork and manhours appropriated to fill it out. This can save your county money in the long run, we believe. Less time and money spent on warrants and police hours. More fines, mean more people cycling through the system because of failure to pay, creating a larger backlog of cases.

Reminders promote compliance. Compliance eliminates costs and saves time in the form of reduced labor to process individuals and backlogs of cases. It also saves money spent on the costs associated with incarceration.

Why a Bailbondsman would care
Reminders promote compliance. Compliance with court dates potentially eliminates extra paperwork
and manhours spent that could be better spent on problem clients. Reminders could help to make your
job easier in the case of clients that fully intend to make their date, but may have trouble remembering.

When
This can happen at any time after they receive their case numbers. Best case scenario is that a clerk
or their lawyer can supply a card at the time of receipt, so that all parties are aware that there will
be a reminder and there is little chance for the number to be lost. Bail bondsmen could also work with their clients to subscribe to these reminders, since it is in their interest for clients to make their appearances.

[drichers]

How long being used in Tulsa
At least since Feb 2017?
Effect that it has had
Who our partners have been
Wirth Law Office has been using it
Assistant Public Defender Jill Webb, Tulsa

[ezrinjaz]

CB in the media:

https://www.codeforamerica.org/featured-stories/people-in-tulsa-can-now-check-the-status-of-traffic-citations-on-their-phones-thanks-to-code-for-tulsa

https://www.wirthlawoffice.com/tulsa-attorney-blog/2017/12/court-date-ask-courtbot-app

http://www.newson6.com/story/35046174/courtbot-app-launches-to-help-tulsans-avoid-failure-to-appear-fines

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/report-recommends-major-changes-to-tulsas-criminal-justice-system/

https://opensavannah.github.io/courtbot/

https://freepressokc.com/code-america-brigades-okla-good-gov/index.html

https://medium.com/code-for-america/safety-and-justice-projects-in-the-code-for-america-network-41be608147d3