Keeping Jurors Safe and Saving Costs
The Okaloosa County Clerk of Circuit Court in Florida, a longtime user of Tyler Jury, had always looked for innovative ways to deal with challenges associated with juror management and juror communication while also balancing the needs of the court. When the pandemic arose, the court worked with Tyler to solve problems the court staff never thought they would encounter.
With help from the Tyler Jury team, the clerk’s office developed new processes and enabled new features so it could move forward in a COVID-19 world. These new features included Response, Voice, and Message, so the court could better communicate and manage its jury process online. That meant online confirmation of jury service, enabling jurors to answer general questionnaires and new COVID-19 questionnaires online, qualifying and empaneling jurors online, and using direct message to communicate reporting dates and any updated COVID-19 information. Jurors could also go online to get their jury service certificate or request to have it sent directly to their employer when needed.
This new, streamlined process addressed the court’s pandemic requirements and allowed it to safely bring jurors in for service while maintaining COVID-19 guidelines. The new process also helped the court save costs with a less day of juror pay, fewer summonses sent, and no additional staff needed to handle multiple jury pools or jury panels, which could be managed by a single jury coordinator.