Courts Moving Toward Being Paperless

Polk County Clerk of Courts Richard Weiss took a step in 2009 toward his goal of a "paperless courthouse" where court information can exist almost entirely in electronic form.

Clerks began scanning documents in felony cases so they can be archived on the Polk Integrated Court System (PICS).

The electronic system allows judges, lawyers and law enforcement officials to quickly look up documents in cases.

Plans call for similar scanning and archiving to eventually be completed for misdemeanor and traffic cases.

But concerns about identity theft and a desire to protect privacy rights have delayed efforts in making these records accessible online to the public. The Florida Supreme Court has expressed concerns Social Security numbers and confidential data in court records must be kept from being posted
online.

For now, visitors to the Polk County Courthouse can find public terminals set up to access a version of PICS that redacts sensitive information.

However, a plethora of records in circuit, appellate and federal courts can be accessed over the Internet.

Here's what's available for local courts:

10TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
Web site: www.jud10.org

General information about Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit, which covers Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties, is available on the court's Web site.

The site provides names, assignments and phone numbers for judges and court officials, and links to the offices of the State Attorney and Public Defender.

POLK COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS
Web site: www.polkcountyclerk.net

The Polk County Clerk of Courts now has a search engine on its Web site that is capable of looking up the docket for criminal cases, which includes the scheduled dates for upcoming hearings. The site also makes both Circuit Court and County Court civil dockets available over the Web.

People can search Civil Court records by party name, case number or filing date.

Those interested in viewing images of the documents contained in the case files may use designated terminals at the Polk County Courthouse.

2ND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
Web site: www.2dca.org

The Lakeland-based appellate court's Web site provides general information, contact information for judges and court officials, court calendars and a searchable archive of opinions.

Opinions are posted on Wednesdays and Fridays.

U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Web site: www.flmd.uscourts.gov

The U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, has a jurisdiction that stretches more than 350 miles and includes cities such as Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando.

The division that handles Polk County cases is based in Tampa.

The federal court's Web site contains general information about the court, links to judges' calendars and copies of forms filed in federal court proceedings.

A paid subscription to CM/ECF (Case Management - Electronic Case Filing), a paperless filing system, is necessary to check the status of a case.