The Phonetree system is similar to those used by the medical professions to remind patients of appointment dates and times, and was installed at the Reno Municipal Court offices about a year ago for $5,000.00 and runs on a $500.00 a year service contract. Since then, Reno Municipal Court customers have received an automated phone call two days ahead of their scheduled court appearance to remind them of the time, date and in what Municipal Court department they are to appear. "The failure to appear rate before the automated system was installed was about one failure to appear per nine defendants," says Howard. "That rate has been significant cut to one failure to appear per 13 defendants."
The decrease in failures to appear in court has also cut down on cost of issuing and serving warrants related to the FTA's prior to implementation of the new procedures. The new automated system also provides tracking for FTA's that occur, allowing Municipal Court staff to make a follow-up call to the individual about their failure to appear before the court. "One of the key elements in the success of the system," Judge Howard points out, "has been the efforts of Reno Police officers to make sure citations have a telephone number so the automated calls can be made."
Recently, the new system was enhanced to offer the reminder message in Spanish to better assist the growing Spanish-speaking segment of the Reno area population.
According to Howard more than 100,000 people went through the Reno Municipal Court system last year, and last month (January 2006) more than 10,000. About 75 percent of the Reno Municipal Court cases are related to traffic violations. The remaining 25 percent includes violations for driving under the influence (DUI), trespassing, domestic violence and other violations.
