GREEN COVE SPRINGS – There is a new system called E-Notify in place in Clay County to help criminal defendants, family members, victims and the media not miss any essential court dates, proceedings and judicially mandated obligations.

In 2019, 819 failure to appear warrants were issued for persons ordered for a court appearance in Clay County. So far, 113 have been given this year. Provided that average remains, the county would be on course to issue 589 warrants. While down from last year, the goal is to shrink that number as much as possible.

The new system hopes to increase checks and balances to keep defendants in compliance.

“There’s a lot of appointments that come through the courthouse, particularly from the courtside. Clerks are always looking for more effective ways to reach out to people and make sure they’re compliant,” said Tara Green, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Clay County. “I’m a huge supporter of helping people stay compliant when it comes to the outcomes of some of their cases. This is a statewide initiative in the year to come with clerks.”

Funds were allocated by the state to allow for the building of a statewide notification system. The platform is free to use.

“Any individual that may have an upcoming court date in any office in the state can go online and register,” Green said. “They put in their name, put in their case number and decide how they want to be notified.” Options for notification are via email or text notification. According to Green, most people are selecting text notification. They can also set the frequency of notifications; 14 days ahead of time, five days, the day before or all three.

“People ask, ‘Why does it matter if people are compliant?’” said Mary Justino, Communications and Community Outreach Director of the Clerk’s office. “Well, obviously it matters to them because it gets them out of that cycle of FTA’s [failure to appear] and owing money. It’s fewer warrants that your deputies have to go serve.”

“It’s us cutting additional letters,” Green said. “Having to reschedule people for hearings. All in all, it’s a good solution. This upcoming year we’re going to see some significant improvements in how clerks work with individuals to keep them in compliance.”

Defendants are already being advised at their hearing. Then they receive official notice via standard mail. E-Notify will serve as an additional reminder.

In the future, E-Notify will also remind of payments that may be due or traffic citations.

The system now is live for court dates. For now, only adult criminal cases and related probation hearing dates are available with the system. Registration for E-Notify is a simple process. Signup is completed online at www.clayclerk.com. On the homepage, in the upper left corner, there is a gray e-notify button. Once the user clicks on that, they then click the ‘Sign Up’ link. The user enters all required information and checks the terms and conditions box. Once the sign up is done, the user then enters their case number and selects how, as well as the frequency of notification.

E-Notify looks to take a major step forward in helping to get people to make their appointments and eventually get out of the system.