Letter to the Editor.
Court Modernization Efforts
Have you ever wondered how the Wright brothers would feel if they had looked up to witness a modern day jet fly overhead? I imagine they would feel a great sense of pride. Although they could not take personal credit for creating the jet, they would know that, but for them, this downstream adaptation of their invention may not have emerged in the way it did.
Last week, I had a somewhat similar sense of pride when reading in the Current about the new e-ticketing system being utilized by the Carmel Police department and the Carmel City Court. This is a great project that will save tax payers money and make Carmel a safer place to live. In short, the program allows officers to capture speeding ticket information electronically during road side stops. This information is then passed up the chain as it is processed in the system.
Although I was not involved in the e-ticketing project itself, I did establish the organization and created the framework to make such projects possible. In 2000, Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard of the Indiana Supreme Court asked me to kick-start the modernization efforts at the Indiana Judiciary. At that time, many courts did not even have access to simple technology.
I remember sitting in my office on the first day thinking – “What did I get myself into? How can I modernize a court system that spans 92 counties and processes over a million cases with no staff, no budget, and, for the most part, no concrete strategy.” Yet, I leveraged what I did have and used my imagination. With a lot of faith and the help of many people though, five years later, I accomplished what I had set out to do. When I left the Indiana Judiciary, I had managed dozens of people, a multimillion dollar budget, and many successful projects that impacted efficiency in every county in the state.
Why is this important, you may ask? I want to expand this use of technology for process improvements in Carmel, and I am pursuing this goal as a candidate for the Carmel City Court judge position in the May 3rd primary. Please remember this when you vote in the May 3rd republican primary. You can learn more about my campaign at www.kurtsnyder.com. Thank you for your consideration.