Citation backlog confounds Fort Worth

Justice clogged might be justice erased in Fort Worth's municipal court.

With hundreds of thousands of old cases unresolved but still on the docket, the computer system has become so clogged that collection of fines has been impeded.

Now, municipal court officials are recommending that those aging cases be administratively closed to relieve the system and help speed it up, according to a Wednesday news report by reporter Yamil Berard.

It's an imperfect solution but might be the best one available for a vexingly flawed system.

The city courts handle citations for code violations as well as parking and traffic tickets, but a clogged, sluggish computer system can't keep up with the growing number of new cases, the report said.

An independent audit this year said many older cases are in "virtual limbo" because of the backlog.

The old saying is "Justice delayed is justice denied." It seems that Fort Worth's system is denying justice to everyone -- those whose cases don't get scheduled for years, those who pay fines on time while others ignore theirs, those who are wrongly accused or whose payments aren't recorded, all because of data errors.

There's also the money that should be going into city coffers but isn't. The technological logjam has left millions of dollars in fines uncollected. For example, city records show that $8 million in code violation fines is outstanding, according to Wednesday's report.

On Tuesday, Municipal Court Director Deidra Emerson told an ad hoc committee of court officials and City Council members that 670,000 cases dating from 1994 to 2005 could be removed from the court docket, Berard reported.

It appears they would simply go away. No accountability, no money collected. The problem is, most of those cases never would get resolved anyway or probably would get dismissed. In some instances, for example, the officers who issued the citations no longer work for the city and wouldn't be available for a court hearing.

The City Council will have to decide how to move forward. Court officials are using the audit to decide whether to recommend upgrades to the CourtView computer system or switch to a different company.

CourtView was supposed to improve case management. The backlog suggests major fixes are still needed.

If mass case dismissals prove to be the best short-term choice, violators who receive a reprieve might be relieved, but taxpayers should be peeved until council members find a better solution.

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