Shelby Courts cease sending updates to Doxpop.

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

Shelby County has migrated to the Odyssey case management system that is provided by the Indiana State Court Administration. Although Doxpop has permission to receive information from all courts in Indiana, we have been advised by the Indiana Division of State Court Administration that Courts using the Odyssey system are not capable of providing bulk exports to those requesting access to public records. Therefore, Doxpop will not be updating case information for Shelby Courts after 4/25/2011.

To ease the transition, Doxpop will maintain the Shelby Court records on our system in their current form until the end of 2011, but we have posted an advisement to seek more current information at the top of each case record.

Doxpop continues to seek access to public records in bulk from counties using the Odyssey system, and hope that everyone will join us in asking that the State Court Administration enhance their recently procured system to provide services such as bulk access that have been available on older systems for more than a decade. In the meantime, you can access case information and very basic services for the Shelby Courts at http://mycase.in.gov.

Access to real-time index and image information from the Shelby County Recorder's office continues to be available and is 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

Directory of Indiana local government information now available.

Last week on this blog, we introduced a comprehensive and growing set of links to local government information in Indiana. You can find it by following the link in the right sidebar of this blog.

This is a community effort- We invite all of you to pass along any links we've missed or let us know of corrections.

Thanks to Tina Gunter in the title division at Doyle Legal, who jumped in right away to add several important links to information from Marion County!

Edgewood Town Court Records Now Available on Doxpop

Doxpop is pleased to announce the addition of Edgewood Town Courts as the newest local government information provider in the Doxpop community. Edgewood records can be found by searching for court records in Madison County, Indiana. Edgewood Town Court joins two other municipal courts from Madison County--Anderson and Pendleton.

Doxpop would like to offer a very special thank you to Debbie in the court office for her patient work with our technical staff. Edgewood records beginning in 1995 are available via Doxpop. Stay tuned for more county data sources expected to join our service in the near future.

A Few Noteworthy Mentions

We've had a few noteworthy news announcements this past week:

First things first, the Randolph County Recorder has recently joined the Doxpop network. Randolph County has also joined Doxpop's free Property Watch service designed to help eliminate property fraud. Special thanks to Randolph County Recorder Debbie Preston for her diligent efforts in making Doxpop available in her county.

Next, we are excited to announce that Henry County is the latest county to provide Doxpop's Fine Payment service. A fun fact, if you happen to receive a traffic citation anywhere between Indianapolis and the Ohio border on Interstate 70, you should be able to pay your ticket using Doxpop Fine Payment.

Finally, we have just released our latest newsletter issue where we discuss some exciting new features available to both our paying customers and to non-subscribers of Doxpop. Be sure to take a look!

Please join us in opposing SB301

On March 24th, Doxpop participated in a House Committee hearing for Senate Bill 301, which proposes to increase the automated record-keeping fee portion of case filing fees charged after July 2011 by 50% (from $4 to $6.)

We oppose this bill for several reasons:

• SB301 Increases the burden on citizens while funding a government project that competes with the private sector in Indiana.
• The "statewide" case management system that this fee supports brings fewer features to local courts at a higher cost than existing systems already in use in the majority of Indiana Counties.
• The independent record-keeping system of the local clerks is an important check and balance in the justice system, providing a separately maintained record for situations where an appeal or other check on a trial court is necessary. JTAC calls removing the check of local independence efficiency. We call it bad government.
• The state court administration has consistently denied access to public court records in bulk from the state-sponsored system, even when the local courts join us in endorsing the request. This system is reducing public access to court records and subverting local government autonomy.

SB301 could be fixed if it were amended to allow local courts and clerks to use the proposed funding for the case management system of their choice as an alternative to the state-funded monopoly. If such an option were added, the fee could also be reasonably cut in half, as the alternatives are significantly cheaper.

Such an amendment would also guarantee continued funding for those counties already using the state-funded system. We're not opposed to having this system available as an option- We only oppose the State of Indiana allocating locally collected fees in a manner that forces counties to use a single vendor from out-of-state instead of freely choosing their own system from the open market.

If you'd like to join us by voicing your opinion on this bill, please contact your state legislator.

Bluffton City Court Joins Doxpop Fine Payment

Doxpop is pleased to welcome the Bluffton City Court to our on-line Fine Payment service. The Bluffton Court handles traffic citations for all of Wells County. Wells County is home to cities such as Bluffton, Markel, and Ossian, as well as Oubache State Park. Drivers who have gotten a citation in Wells County while driving through Interstate 69, Indiana State Road 3, or Indiana State Road 1, can go to payment.doxpop.com to quickly and conveniently pay their fines and fees.

Keep your eyes peeled for more Indiana counties to be added to Doxpop Fine Payment in the very near future.

Check Out This Video: Introduction to Doxpop

Have you seen our Introduction to Doxpop video? Make sure to share it with your friends!

Blackford County Recorder Joins Doxpop

Blackford County has just become the 15th Indiana County to allow recorded document information available on the web via Doxpop. Blackford County is also a part of the Doxpop's Free Property Watch Service designed to help eliminate property fraud. These services are provided on the web without the need of taxpayer money.

Local property owners who wish to receive email notification when documents referencing their property are filed by the Recorder may go to watch.doxpop.com to register. It costs nothing to use this free service.

Access to detailed index and image information is provided at www.doxpop.com as a subscription service designed to serve businesses. Recorded document index information dates back to January of 1992. Scanned images of recorded documents such as mortgages, deeds, and liens are available beginning in October of 2000. Doxpop now provides index information for 5.7 million Indiana recorded documents.

Doxpop would like to offer a very special thank you to Recorder Derinda Shady and First Deputy Patricia Mulholland for their long and patient efforts in bringing Doxpop to their county.

Clinton County Added to Doxpop Fine Payment

We are happy to welcome Clinton County to the Doxpop Fine Payment System. Now motorists who receive a citation while driving through Clinton County on I-65 can pay their fines on-line when they return home. Folks who make their home in Clinton County can save themselves a trip to the courthouse in Frankfort. Doxpop Fine Payment is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Thanks to County Clerk Sherri Crews and her excellent staff for working with us to bring this service to Clinton County.

The Doxpop on-line Fine & Fee Payment Service is now available in 11 Indiana counties, with more being added every week. The service is offered at no cost to participating counties, and is designed to reduce the workload on clerk and court staff while making the unpleasant process of paying a fine a little more palatable to the payers.

Madison and Allen County Information Removed From Doxpop

Two counties and a municipal court that formerly worked with Doxpop have recently moved to the Odyssey system run by the Indiana State Judiciary rather than the local court system.

Because the State Court Administration has refused our request to provide regular access to public court information, we will be removing these courts from our system the week of January 31, 2011. They include the courts of Madison and Allen Counties and the Gas City municipal court.

If you would like to see these courts return to Doxpop, please let your state legislators know of the problems we are encountering in our mission to provide access to public information for professional users. Your voice is important.

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