The state court official who supervises DUI issues says some lawmakers do not have a good understanding of all that the courts are doing to improve tracking of drunken-driving cases.
"Some of the perceptions are unfair, and some are simply inaccurate," said Rick Schwermer, assistant court administrator.
Schwermer spoke out Thursday after being hammered by lawmakers in a legislative interim committee a day earlier.
In that meeting, some legislators said the court administration that oversees Utah's district courts and 138 local justice courts has been slow and inefficient in tackling its part of the problems related to DUI tracking.
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, chastised Schwermer for glossing over a complicated computer and data problem that prevents police officers, prosecutors, judges and probation officials from having accurate information about DUI offenders as they try to charge and sentence them.
Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, said the 104-member Legislature is doing its part to get drunken drivers off the road. But the court "bureaucracy" hasn't moved as quickly as it could, especially on a new law that will collect facts about each drunken-driving arrest and make information accessible to the people who need it.
"But the courts have done all they legally can, as quickly as they can," Schwermer said Thursday.
"And we have done it all without legislative support and funding," he said. "We have done a lot, and if I haven't communicated that well, then that's something we need to work on."
The courts have worked closely with anti-drunken-driving advocates and sponsor Rep. Lamont Tyler, R-Salt Lake City, on a bill that adds 10 categories to permanent court records. These categories include whether an offense is an offender's first, second or third; whether the offense was charged and sentenced as such; whether the offender had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 or higher; and whether installation of an ignition interlock was ordered.
Although there has been confusion over the impact and intention of the bill — and whether lawmakers knew the state's justice courts were included in the bill — Tyler on Wednesday commended the courts for including all 10 categories in their in-house rules. "They did an excellent job of representing the interests of HB18," Tyler said.
The courts also plan special DUI training for justice court judges in August and December meetings, Schwermer said.
And he and his state court colleagues have worked to get the remainder of Utah's 138 justice courts automated. He requested and received two grants worth about $140,000 to get these courts, some of in Utah's remotest nooks and crannies, online. Part of the grant money will pay for a full-time staffer to offer technical assistance to local justice courts beginning July 1.
There has been much grumbling from legislators about why all the local justice courts — paid for and run by local communities — won't be online until 2004. But the only hammer the state court administration holds over a local court is to say whether or not it can be certified to operate, and the next round of certifications comes in 2004, Schwermer said.
"I don't understand the criticism of us not moving fast enough," Schwermer said. "Everything we've done has been within the time frame they've given us."
Although it is 2002 and automation is the expected standard in the state, Schwermer makes it clear there are special considerations required to track personal criminal and judicial records via computer. Officials had to make sure the Internet was secure enough to transport these personal, private files and have them end up in the right place.
"The technology that allows us to do this through the Internet has only been available for a couple of years," he said.
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