Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

From: Crown Office

Crown Office

News Release

For Publication

30 January 2012

CROWN PILOTS WITNESS TEXT REMINDER PROGRAM

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Scotland’s sole prosecuting authority, today launches a pilot to text witnesses to remind them to attend court.

It is recognised that witness non-attendance is a major reason for adjournments in the Summary trials courts.

The pilot, which will initially run at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for a 4 month period, will test the potential benefits of using mobile phone text (SMS) messages, in order to remind Crown witnesses of the date they are due to attend court.

Adrian Cottam, Assistant Procurator Fiscal for Edinburgh, said:

"A great many people now use their mobile phone as a primary means of communication, and this pilot will assess whether issuing direct reminders in this way will mark an improvement to the rate of witness attendance.

"It is always vital that the justice system keeps pace with technological developments, and this innovative pilot is one that we hope will have a real impact on the efficiency of the courts."

ENDS

Crown Office Communications

0844 561 3984

Notes to Editors

1. The pilot will test the potential benefits of using mobile phone text (SMS) messages, in order to remind Crown witnesses of the date they are due to attend court.

There are likely to be many reasons for witness non-attendance but in some cases it is anticipated that the witness will simply have forgotten the date, perhaps having received their citation some weeks or indeed months before the trial. The pilot will look specifically at the potential benefits of providing witnesses with a reminder using their mobile phone, received shortly before the court date, as one possible way of improving witness attendance.

2. The pilot will run at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, initially for a 4 month period. The pilot will go live on the 28 January 2012 with messages being sent on 29th January for witnesses due to attend court on 01 February.

Text reminders will be sent to civilian and professional (expert) witnesses, who are due to give evidence in Sheriff Summary Trials. The pilot will exclude police and child witnesses. Text messages will be sent out 3-4 days prior to the date of the trial.

3. An example of a witness reminder text is provided below. No personal data is provided in the text.

"You must attend as a witness at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at 09:45 on 01/02/2012. Do not reply by text. For info call the PF 01389 739557 with ref ED18000021"