By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Kansas Office of Judicial Administration continues its conversion to a new statewide case management system. Sedgwick County District Court was scheduled for an Aug. 7 transition. One of the benefits to the public is the ability to search court records from home. Barton County Attorney Levi Morris has mixed feelings about the technology and the new ease of obtaining information.
"In the age of the Millenials, now everything has to be on Google and it is," he said. "Now, a person can skip all those steps. They don't have to get out of bed. They don't have to get up. They don't have to get dressed. They don't have to go down to the courthouse. They don't have to wait in line, and they don't have to fill out a form. They don't even have to ask another human being for the information. They can just log into the system."
The database includes records from all Kansas counties except Johnson and Sedgwick, which have their own subscription services. There is a $1.50 fee to search for records, even if no results are found, and another $1.50 fee for each case retrieved. While the information may be useful to many, Morris said there are plenty of nefarious reasons for searching, such as digging up dirt on neighbors or exes. Previous efforts required to obtain the same information weeded out some of those examples.
"The ability to get it so much quicker, maybe screenshot it so much quicker, share it on Facebook, if you will, is a lot like sending an email versus writing a letter," he said. "You were better off if you just have to sleep on it."
The Kansas District Court Public Access Portal contains only information allowed by law to be viewed by the public using Internet access. The public may view additional case information, as permitted by law, at a courthouse terminal at their local district court. CLICK HERE to access the portal.