Charging Packet – An Automated Delivery System for Law Enforcement

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

All Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) in Alameda County submit a set of documents called a Charging Packet to the County District Attorney (DA) for every arrest that they make. The DA uses these documents to decide on charging the case in the Superior Court. This packet is usually delivered in person by the Police Department’s court liaison who comes in to work at 3AM to complete the packets for all arrests of the previous day and deliver them to the DA before the first court arraignment of the defendants. The Alameda County IT Department’s Criminal Justice Team developed the Charging Packet system using the CRIMS (Consolidated Records Management System) platform which is used by agencies across the county. The system allows users from each agency to pull various documents directly from the CRIMS system (Arrest Report and Probable Cause Declaration), from the Records Management system (Police Report) and from Department of Justice (RAP sheet) and create an electronic packet that is submitted to the DA online. LEA and the DA can mutually track the status of the packet and the subsequent charging decisions.