I was given opportunity to sit on the bench with Greenwood Village’s residing judge, and the number of cases scheduled for arraignment astonished me. On an ordinary Wednesday night arraignment session, I was informed, around 60 cases usually make it onto the docket. The docket for July 30th, however, held 80 arraignments, mostly for traffic violations. The sight of the courtroom and lobby of City Hall filled with citizens waiting to see the judge reminded me of a discussion that took place during the June 17th City Council study session.
At this June meeting, the City Council deliberated E-Citations, an electronic ticketing system growing in popularity in municipalities throughout the country. Whereas those ticketed currently are required to appear in court to accept plea bargains and point deductions for traffic offenses, with E-Citations, citizens could simply pay fines and accept plea bargains online. In such a system, plea bargains would automatically be offered to everyone, eliminating the complications arising from outdated addresses and wait times in the traditional method of extending plea bargains through the mail. Of course, citizens could always opt to come into Court for traffic violations instead of using E-Citations. Individuals with violations over six points would especially want to consider this option, as past driving history would not be considered in plea bargains for offenses of this level unless the driver makes an appearance in court. In all, E-ticketing seems to have many advantages, including saving paper, time, and staff resources.
After witnessing the majority of people having to wait hours simply to come up to the stand to accept a plea bargain for a driving violation, I began to consider E-Citations as a quite practical option for the city. E-ticketing would not only help conserve the resources of Greenwood Village’s judges, staff, and even the city itself, but the technology would also further benefit citizens by eliminating the $25 fee that accompanies an appearance in court. However, should E-Citations be used in the city, it would be necessary for officers to check that a citizen have regular access to the Internet before issuing an E-ticket rather than a paper citation. Nowadays, with Internet access so widespread, it is easy to assume that everyone would be able to take advantage of the conveniences of E-ticketing, but it is important to remember that this may not always be the case and have a procedure in place for such times.
Olivia Solow Niederman
Having just completed my junior year at Cherry Creek High School, I am looking forward to going beyond the classroom to pursue my interests in government, politics, and public policy. For the past two years, I have given back to my community by serving as a board member on the Rose Youth Foundation, where I collaborated with 22 other teenagers to allocate grants to organizations working to better the greater Denver area. In addition to community service, an important part of my life has always been gymnastics. I have competed for USA gymnastics since I was six and have been a member of the varsity team at Cherry Creek High School since freshman year. From maintaining commitments to time management to conquering fears, I have gained so much from all of these experiences and am excited to learn more from serving as an intern for Greenwood Village.
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