Hancock County Recorded Documents Now Available on Doxpop

Doxpop has completed the addition of Hancock County's Recorded Documents to the Doxpop Public Records Database. This brings the number of documents available on Doxpop to 4,479,448. The number of documents available increases every minute, as regular updates arrive to maintain our real-time database from the recorders we work with.

The Document index information for Hancock County goes back to January of 1990, and images are available through January 2001.

Welcome aboard to all of the folks at Hancock County, and special thanks to Sharon Shambaugh and her staff in the Recorder' Office!

Vanderburgh Court records through 1993 now available on Doxpop

Doxpop has completed the load of all public case records from the Vanderburgh County Courts system. This means that full records are now available for all courts from 1993 through the present. Some records are available prior to 1993, but because not all of the courts used a computer system at that time, we are not claiming a "full" record of cases prior to 1993.

Thanks to Court IT Director Tim VanCleave, Clerk Susan Kirk, and all of the Vanderburgh judges for their support and patience throughout this long project. They're a great group of people to work with and we look forward to a productive (and fun!) future with them.

Coming soon: Hancock County Recorded Documents.

Exciting news: On Monday, 12/14, The Hancock County Recorder's Office will be joining the Doxpop Community. Look for them next week in the growing list of Partner Recorders by clicking on the recorded documents tab in the Doxpop web site next week.

New release schedule for older case records in Vanderburgh County

We have altered our plans for releasing cases from prior years in Vanderburgh County:

Currently, we have cases from 2005 through current available.

The original plan was to release 3 more years (2001 through 2004) today and then the remaining years (1993 through 2001) on 12/23.

The new plan is to not do the small 3-year release today, and instead move all remaining years into production on 12/19.

Doing one large release simplifies our work and makes it easier to move the final completion date a few days earlier. Our apologies if the shifting plans have caused any confusion!

The Doxpop training in Evansville will be in Courtroom 110 at the civic center

Rich and I arrived yesterday afternoon to check out the room for training sessions. We will be in room 110. To find us, turn right after you've gone through the security screening area and go to the last room in the hallway.

We will have 6 computers available so those who want to try the system may do so after each training session.

We hope to see many of you there today!

Doxpop Training and Demonstration Sessions in Vanderburgh County

On Wednesday, Dec. 9th and Thursday, Dec. 10th, Doxpop will be providing training and demonstration sessions at the Civic Center Complex in Evansville. Although you don't have to register to attend, you may sign up in advance at the Vanderburgh County Courts web site. Sessions are at 10AM, 1:30PM and 3:30PM both days, and there will be an evening session at 5:30PM on Wednesday for you over-achievers who can't get away from the office during the day.

Everyone is welcome to attend. We'll be demonstrating the basics for new users and answering questions about advanced features for the folks who already use our system. We hope you to see you there!

Vanderburgh Courts join the Doxpop Network

At long last! Doxpop welcomes the courts of Vanderburgh County. 

Adding Vanderburgh County has been a substantial project spanning more than a year. The people involved in this project are too numerous to thank in a brief blog post, so we'll pick on the superstars of this project: Judge J. Douglas Knight, Clerk Susan K. Kirk and especially the tireless Timothy VanCleave, Director of Vanderburgh County Court Information Systems have been instrumental.

We are adding Vanderburgh County Court information to Doxpop in two stages:

• Currently, information on all public cases filed from January 2005 through current is available and updated every 15 minutes.
• In early December, all remaining cases will be added back through January 1993. (Limited information will be available on many cases through 1980, but complete coverage starts in 1993.)

 On December 9th and 10th, Doxpop's training staff will be on-site in Evansville to hold demonstration and training sessions. Watch this blog for more information on exact times and locations.

Madison County Recorded Documents Now on Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to welcome the Madison County Recorder as the newest local government information provider in the Doxpop community. Many thanks to Lisa Hobbs, County Recorder, for her help in making this possible.

The Madison County document index extends back to November of 1989 and the document images extend back to January of 1990. Madison County is our 2nd county recorder with 20 years of images available!

Madison and the many other counties working with Doxpop help serve the public interest by making information available via the web at no cost to the county. Doxpop provides a range of tools designed to facilitate timely and efficient communication between county agencies and those who use county data.

Doxpop has been providing public access to Indiana court records since 2002 and Indiana recorded documents since 2005. Madison County is the 9th Recorder's office to join the Doxpop network, which currently provides access to over 10.5 million court case records and over 4.1 million recorded documents.

What's up with Kosciusko County?

The folks in Kosciusko County recently had a hard drive failure on their server. The IT staff and vendor support team are making repairs and will soon be sending Doxpop a "reload" of data. Because of the nature of the failure, we will have to do a complete reload of all data that may take some time to accomplish. Please be patient with us as we work to restore this data source.

Related *good* news: Kosciusko County is planning to move to a newer case management system that will greatly increase the reliability of our data feed in the future. That upgrade is planned for February.

Adams County Recorded Documents Now on Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to welcome the Adams County Recorder as the newest local government information provider in the Doxpop community. Many thanks to IT Director Pat Norton, Recorder Connie Mosier, and Deputy Jim Voglewede, Jr. for their help in making this possible.

The Adams County document index extends back to January of 1990 and the document images extend back to January of 1990 as well.

Adams and the many other counties working with Doxpop help serve the public interest by making information available via the web at no cost to the county. Doxpop provides a range of tools designed to facilitate timely and efficient communication between county agencies and those who use county data.

Doxpop has been providing public access to Indiana court records since 2002 and Indiana recorded documents since 2005. Adams County is the 8th Recorder's office to join the Doxpop network, which currently provides access to over 10.5 million court case records and over 3.4 million recorded documents.

Hamilton County Courts Cease Sending Updates to Doxpop

Hamilton County and Doxpop have enjoyed a close partnership in providing public access to court records over the past two years. However, the Courts of Hamilton County are switching to the Odyssey case management system provided by the Indiana Supreme Court. As a result, Doxpop is no longer able to provide access to up-to-date public information for the Hamilton Courts.

Effective Monday, 9/21/2009 at 8:00 AM EDT, Hamilton County court records will no longer be updated on Doxpop. New cases and updates to existing cases for Hamilton County will not be available on Doxpop as of that date.

Access to other Doxpop partner courts is unaffected by this change. Access to Hamilton County recorded documents is also unaffected by this change.

Important Note: This county's data was restored to the Doxpop system in November, 2011. Read the details here: http://blog.doxpop.com/2011/11/long-odyssey-doxpops-4-year-quest-pays.html

Useful Tip for Adams County cases.

Our friends in Adams County have alerted us to a couple of frequently used acronyms that are useful to know about if you are researching cases in their county:

ACLEC = Adams County Law Enforcement Center (the location of the local jail.)
ACCC = Adams County Community Corrections.

Both Circuit and Superior Court in Adams County use these frequently.

Thanks to Clerk Gayla Reinhart and Judge Patrick Miller for passing along this useful information!

Adams County Records Now On Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to announce the addition of the Adams County Courts as the newest local government information providers in the Doxpop community. With the addition of Adams County, Doxpop now provides access to Court information in 48 Indiana Counties.

The court information available for Adams County includes all court cases filed beginning in June of 1990. Tax Warrants begin in January of 2002. Foreign judgments go under the original case type. Lis Pendens cases are not available.

Adams and the many other counties working with Doxpop help serve the public interest by making information available via the web at no cost to the county. Doxpop provides a range of tools designed to facilitate timely and efficient communication between county agencies and those who use county data.

Doxpop has been providing public access to Indiana court records since 2002 and Indiana recorded documents since 2005. Adams County is the 48th court system to join the Doxpop network, which currently provides access to over 10.3 million court case records and over 3.0 million recorded documents.

Doxpop Cited in Interesting Article

The Doxpop service is cited in an interesting comment thread on Masson's Blog. Please visit the following link to learn more. http://tinyurl.com/lbxmd2. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Vermillion County Records Now On Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to announce the addition of the Vermillion County Courts as the newest local government information providers in the Doxpop community. With the addition of Vermillion County, Doxpop now provides access to Court information in 47 Indiana Counties.

The court information available for Vermillion County includes all court cases filed beginning in July of 1994. Lis Pendens and Tax Warrant cases are not available.

Vermillion and the many other counties working with Doxpop help serve the public interest by making information available via the web at no cost to the county. Doxpop provides a range of tools designed to facilitate timely and efficient communication between county agencies and those who use county data.

Doxpop has been providing public access to Indiana court records since 2002 and Indiana recorded documents since 2005. Vermillion County is the 47th court system to join the Doxpop network, which currently provides access to over 10.2 million court case records and over 2.9 million recorded documents.

How to Use "My Calendar"

Doxpop provides a calendar feature that can help organize your saved cases and any cases associated with your State Bar ID. Enabling email notifications allows you to be quickly notified whenever a change has been made to a calendar event you are associated with.

To set up your calendar:

1) From the "My Doxpop" screen, click "My Bar IDs", then click "Add New ID"
2) For "ID Type", select "State Bar Id"
3) Select the state your bar ID license is assigned.
4) Enter your Bar ID number exactly as written, including a dash or space, into the "ID number" field
5) If you wish to receive email notifications when hearings are scheduled or cancelled, select the box that says "Upcoming hearings will available in the calendar and also will be emailed to you as they are scheduled". Otherwise, select "View events in calendar only".
6) Click the "Done" button
7) You can now view your calendar by selecting the "My Calendar" link at the "My Doxpop" screen. Viewing case details from your calendar screen does not cost you a search.

Tired of checking service on a case?

Are you tired of checking service on a case? By setting an "alert" on a case, you will be notified by email every time a change occurs for that record. You choose to be notified immediately or on a daily basis.

To set an Alert on case:

1. Click on the "Court Cases" tab.
2. Type a name in the "Search by Party Name" box or a cause number in the "Search by Case ID" box and click the [Search] button.
3. If the case you want appears in the result, click the drop down arrow in the box labeled "+Add" for the case you wish to set an Alert on.
4. Select "Set Alert" by clicking on it.
5. You may continue searching and adding Alerts to cases in this manner.
6. When you are ready to see the list of your cases, click on the "my saved cases" link in the green bar near the top of the page.

The notification emails arrive at no cost to you.

The number of case alerts allowed on an account is equal to the number of searches in your plan.

Reading An Indiana Cause Number

Have you ever wondered where the numbers come from for an Indiana Cause Number? Allow us to break it down for you:

For example: 89C02-0512-IF-00016

89 is the county number (Wayne County)
C02 is the court in which the case is filed (Circuit 2)
05 is the year the case is filed (2005)
12 is the month the case is filed (December)
IF is the case type (Infraction) View a list of case type abbreviations here.
00016 is the annual sequence number. This is the 16th infraction cased of the year in Wayne County.

The annual sequence number is five digits with or without leading zeros. Some counties "pad" this number with leading zeros to make it exactly 5 digits long (see example above), while other counties leave out the leading zeros. (89C01-0512-IF-16)

When searching using Doxpop, adding the percent sign (wild card) in front of the annual sequence number ensures you a successful search result. (89C02-0512-IF-%16)

10 Million Cases!

10 Million Cases! Doxpop reached this impressive milestone early this morning. Doxpop now provides access to over 10 million cases from 138 courts in 46 Indiana counties.

We would like to thank all Doxpop partner courts, county officials, and our loyal subscribers for helping make this possible. We at Doxpop remain determined to provide you with the most valuable, accurate, and timely access to the public records you need. Keep an eye out for additional counties and service features to be added in the near future.

Fun Fact:

Assuming that each CCS is about two pages, all cases stacked on top of each other would reach approximately 5,833 feet. That's taller than 3 Sears Towers!

Thank you for using Doxpop.

Allen Criminal Records Now On Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to announce that the Allen County Criminal Court Records are now available on Doxpop. Searches in Allen County will now include Civil and Criminal cases.

The court information available for Allen County includes all court cases filed beginning in October of 1995 and any older cases still open at that time.

Tax Warrants are filed under the MI case type and begin in November of 1995. Foreign Judgments (in and out of state) are also filed under the MI case type.

Clerk's records are complete for all civil cases. However, the Superior Courts of Allen County do not enter all actions on the electronic CCS. For a more detailed explanation of what information is available for each of the civil case types in the Allen County courts, consult this PDF chart.

Allen and the many other counties working with Doxpop help serve the public interest by making information available via the web at no cost to the county. Doxpop provides a range of tools designed to facilitate timely and efficient communication between county agencies and those who use county data.

Doxpop has been providing public access to Indiana court records since 2002 and Indiana recorded documents since 2005. The Doxpop network consists of 46 Indiana court systems and currently provides access to over 9.9 million court case records and over 2.8 million recorded documents.

Doxpop submits 798-page request for access to public information from Indiana Courts

On Friday, January 9, 2009, Doxpop shipped off its 798-page 2009 AR-9(F) request (pdf) for access to non-confidential case information in Indiana. Doxpop works with county clerks and judges to publish information about court cases on the Internet as permitted by Trial Rule 77(K) (html). Bulk access to court case information is governed by Administrative Rule 9(F) (html) and certain administrative authority under the rule is granted to the Division of State Court Administration, Lilia Judson, Executive Director.

In addition to a cover letter and a few pages of information specific to our request, the Division requires that we attach: 1) orders of consent from judges in each county from which we receive information, 2) copies of contracts with each county from which we receive information, and 3) copies of contracts with anyone to whom we provide bulk data. With about 50 counties participating in the Doxpop network, and 5 other organizations that receive bulk data via Doxpop, the paperwork adds up quickly.

But wait, there's more. There's another 4000 pages to submit before January 31. Each county that utilizes Doxpop to publish information on the Internet under TR-77(K) must also submit its own paperwork to the Division. This includes: 1) orders of consent from the judges in the county, 2) a copy of the contract with the county, and 3) detailed information about the Doxpop service and its user agreements. This adds up to about 80 pages per county. To facilitate the process, Doxpop prepares this paperwork for submission by the clerk.

It's worth noting that the consent orders and contracts in each TR-77(K) request are identical to the ones submitted by Doxpop in its AR-9(F) request. And the information about the Doxpop services is identical in each TR-77(K) request. All of this needs to be completed between January 1 and January 31: new consent orders from the judges, new AR-9(F) request from Doxpop, approval by the Division of Doxpop's request, and new TR-77(K) requests by each clerk. All of this at a busy time of year, especially for judges and clerks who just took office.

As you can see from the cover letter, Doxpop has some concerns about how the Division has chosen to interpret the rules. I'll say more about that in upcoming blog entries. For now I'll suggest that the current process is poorly designed, at best, or designed to frustrate clerks, judges, and counties who have not switched to the state-provided case management system, at worst. In the letter sent to clerks last year (pdf), the second paragraph seems to imply the latter.

Of course we comply with the process prescribed by the Division, but surely there's a better way.

Ray