Hillsboro Municipal Court connects to OCN

Hillsboro Municipal Court connects to OCN

 

Hillsboro Municipal Court, which recently connected to a statewide justice information exchange system, now has the capability to cast a wider net in searching backgrounds of those appearing in court.

Developed by the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Ohio Courts Network (OCN) serves as a centralized warehouse of case-related data, enabling courts and justice system partners to share information and to support functions such as criminal history reviews, warrant and protection order searches, pre-sentencing investigations, background checks, and pre-custody reviews.

  These local courts’ case management systems send data each night to the Supreme Court, which then integrates and securely stores this information and makes it available to other courts and justice system partners. As a closed, private, secure application, the OCN is not a public Web site,

according to Robert Stuart, Supreme Court IT Director.

  “Through the OCN, the flow of information between local courts and justice system partners is improved because of the availability of current, accurate and centralized data,” said Stuart. “Judges know more about the person charged with a crime who’s standing before them, and state agencies can access case disposition data as soon as the court has entered it into the local system. Because of this, better decisions are made based on the

additional information available.”

  Stuart said connecting to the OCN involves only a few steps: signing an agreement to share local court data, training the authorized local court

users, connecting to the OCN and loading cases. Strict protocol governs the appropriate use of OCN data by court staff.

  “Our Court has been working for many years to make our business and our records more accessible to everyone,” said Hillsboro Municipal Court Judge David H. McKenna. “We established Internet access 10 years ago and have shared data with other courts for many years. We are pleased to be part of the Supreme Court of Ohio’s statewide justice information exchange system.”

  The justice system partners’ records available through the OCN include those from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation criminal history database and any case-related record from local courts connected to the OCN.

  More than 340 courts have signed agreements to participate and have access to the OCN information. More than 70 courts are fully connected to the OCN statewide, and many other courts are in various stages of connectivity. Some courts have begun loading case data, some courts are testing their connectivity before loading cases and some courts have scheduled implementation. The goal is to have 80 percent of the case-related data from

local courts available system wide by the end of the year.

Hillsboro Municipal Court, which recently connected to a statewide justice information exchange system, now has the capability to cast a wider net in searching backgrounds of those appearing in court.

Developed by the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Ohio Courts Network (OCN) serves as a centralized warehouse of case-related data, enabling courts and justice system partners to share information and to support functions such as criminal history reviews, warrant and protection order searches, pre-sentencing investigations, background checks, and pre-custody reviews.

  These local courts’ case management systems send data each night to the Supreme Court, which then integrates and securely stores this information and makes it available to other courts and justice system partners. As a closed, private, secure application, the OCN is not a public Web site, according to Robert Stuart, Supreme Court IT Director.

  “Through the OCN, the flow of information between local courts and justice system partners is improved because of the availability of current, accurate and centralized data,” said Stuart. “Judges know more about the person charged with a crime who’s standing before them, and state agencies can access case disposition data as soon as the court has entered it into the local system. Because of this, better decisions are made based on the additional information available.”

  Stuart said connecting to the OCN involves only a few steps: signing an agreement to share local court data, training the authorized local court

users, connecting to the OCN and loading cases. Strict protocol governs the appropriate use of OCN data by court staff.

  “Our court has been working for many years to make our business and our records more accessible to everyone,” said Hillsboro Municipal Court Judge David H. McKenna. “We established Internet access 10 years ago and have shared data with other courts for many years. We are pleased to be part of the Supreme Court of Ohio’s statewide justice information exchange system.”

  The justice system partners’ records available through the OCN include those from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation criminal history database and any case-related record from local courts connected to the OCN.

  More than 340 courts have signed agreements to participate and have access to the OCN information. More than 70 courts are fully connected to the OCN statewide, and many other courts are in various stages of connectivity. Some courts have begun loading case data, some courts are testing their connectivity before loading cases and some courts have scheduled implementation. The goal is to have 80 percent of the case-related data from local courts available system wide by the end of the year.