LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Lafayette Parish criminal justice officials are touting a court-alert system that has increased the number of defendants who appear in court when they’re supposed to. As a result, the number of judge-issued warrants for court no-shows has been cut.
In September, The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1GtJtIA) deputies with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office started a service where they call defendants one week before their arraignments or for other pretrial court dates. The calls, placed weekly, have bumped up the number of defendants who show up for appearances in state court.
The numbers tell the tale: In September, when the program started, 48 percent of defendants scheduled for appearances showed up; in October, the number was 62 percent.
“This 14 (percentage point) increase in court appearance rates was a low-cost solution to the high failure-to-appear rates,” said Julio Naudin, communications specialist for Sheriff Mike Neustrom.
The court-alert program came about through meetings of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. The committee was started by Neustrom and is made up of people from different agencies that deal with crime: law enforcement, prosecutors, defenders, jailers, clerks, judges, city-parish officials and others.
Deputies, called information officers, call defendants about a week before the scheduled hearing for a reminder. Deputies also answer questions.
“In this . process we have actually reduced the number of phone calls we would have normally received about parking, court rules about cellphones (they cannot bring them into court) and courthouse location,” said Rob Reardon, director of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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