[T]he Vermont court system’s plan to institute a new after-hours electronic filing procedure for domestic abuse victims has sparked concern from advocates who are worried about victims’ access to the program.
With an initial July 1 target date, the new process is designed to keep alleged victims and court employees out of dangerous situations. Currently, those seeking immediate recourse must apply for a “relief from abuse order” (RFA) in person, regardless of the hour. If a victim goes to a police station, the office will contact a representative of a local advocacy organization as well as a court official who will complete the necessary paperwork.
Under the future e-filing system, when a victim calls the statewide after-hours phone number, the person will be directed to an online form. An advocate will still be available, but there will not be an in-person court employee to go through the process with victims.
“A call to the after hours hotline will still be required, and court staff will still respond to the caller, provide them with a link to the Guide and File system, or in the event the caller has no internet access, will still be available to assist in filing a petition for relief by phone,” according to Tari Scott, Chief of Trial Court Operations.
The technology behind the e-filing process is not yet complete, and court system representatives do not know when the final version will be available. In the interim, however, the courts plan to roll out a temporary program that removes in-person officials and replaces them with a phone call and online forms.
Patricia Gabel, Vermont’s court administrator, said the change is “100% an issue of safety.” The courts began looking into a new system almost three years ago, when it became clear that the hours of the Derby State Police barracks left residents without a safe place to meet with court employees. According to Gabel, the lack of a safe location in Derby highlighted the potential dangers of nighttime meetings for victims and court officials alike.
“A lot of times people were sitting in the parking lot up there, waiting for somebody to come in,” Chief of Trial Court Operations Theresa Scott said of the situation in Derby. “There was not a lot of safety and security, and that really started the conversation.”
Gabel added that court employees are increasingly hesitant to take on after-hours shifts, a position that they volunteer to shoulder.
“It isn’t a question of the judiciary not, quote unquote, having enough resources,” Gabel said. “It’s a question of employees withdrawing from this program, most recently due to fears for their own safety. And those fears come from recent incidents that have occurred that have scared them.”
In May, the shortage of willing court employees reached a boiling point in Barre. The town’s last employee left her position several weeks ago, forcing the Judiciary to implement an online system earlier than they intended.
The police force in Barre got less than two days of notice before the change. Barre Chief of Police Timothy Bombardier said he initially found out about the new system through “word of month and a phone call from the staff at Circle, an anti-domestic violence advocacy group.”
“The next thing we knew, overnight, we’re told about this electronic filing system,” he said.
The rollout in Barre was never part of the court system’s plan, and the first weekend was difficult by almost all accounts. Scott said it had “a few bumps”; Gabel called it a “true emergency situation.”
Bombardier recounted one incident from the system’s early days in Barre in which an advocate and a victim spent hours trying to navigate the process, until they “figuratively threw their hands up in the air” and waited until the next morning.
“They did not get the temporary order that night,” Bombardier added. “That is not how I think things are supposed to go.”
According to Gabel and Scott, the final e-filing system will not look like the interim system, and the rollout in Barre will not resemble the rollout in the rest of the state. Other counties should expect more warning than Bombardier had in Washington County.
But now that the system has been in place for several weeks, Bombardier said that he still has reservations about a process that “eliminates the human element.”
“Between those two groups, advocates and law enforcement, I don’t think any of us are fans of the new system,” he said.
Beyond Barre, advocates throughout the state have already put years of thought into how they might keep the difficulties in Washington County from repeating themselves.
Karen Tronsgard-Scott, executive director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said the group “raised concerns all along the way” about an electronic system. The network is not against an e-filing process, Tronsgard-Scott said, but it wants to ensure that the new measures do not harm victims.
According to Gabel, the court system is taking the network’s concerns into account as it moves toward the new design. The process has already overcome several hurdles: Governor Phil Scott signed a bill, H.836, allowing RFAs to be filed online in April 2018, and the courts have been working to perfect e-filing technology.
The proposed change comes a year after a high-profile domestic homicide threw Vermont’s RFA process into question. In May 2018, a South Burlington woman was believed to have been killed by her boyfriend despite the two RFAs she had previously applied for. Shortly after, House lawmakers began working on a bill that would require law enforcement to take all firearms from those with RFAs filed against them.
A similar bill, H.30, failed to make it out of the House in the 2019 legislative session. The movement towards e-filing, however, has gained more traction.
But despite the work that has already gone into the new filing system, Tronsgard-Scott said her network still has unanswered questions. She believes that the courts have not explained how those without internet access will file electronically, and she is worried that people who cannot safely access a computer might not be able to use the new system.
“The concern that we have have has to do with folks who live in the Northeast Kingdom, or who live in places where they don’t have good access to the kind of technology that’s needed to be able to access that system,” Tronsgard-Scott said.
Margo Batsie, the director of program services at the Chittenden County advocacy group Steps to End Domestic Violence, said she has not yet heard any details from the court system. Still, she is worried that a process that does not include live court employees might increase the burden on live advocates.
“Oftentimes, our advocates are just a small part of after-hours filing right now, because we have such passionate law enforcement officers,” she said. “But I’m fearful … that it’s going to start to be too much of a heavy lift, and then advocates are going to need to really step in. I’m very frankly concerned about our ability to absorb more after hours work.”
Both Tronsgard-Scott and Batsie said that they are not against the idea of an e-filing system. Their concern is only that the process will not be accessible — and that the “bumpy” rollout in Barre might come true in other areas.
Bombardier agreed: “In a perfect world, RFAs in an electronic filing system would be great, but you’re relying on a host of presumptions,” he said.
According to Tronsgard-Scott, then, her network’s role is to work with the courts to ensure victims have immediate protection. She said she is committed to helping the state keep residents safe — regardless of where they come from, what their accessibility needs are, or what the filing system looks like.
“What we want to make sure is that on July 2 at 3 in the morning, if somebody needs protection, they can get it,” Tronsgard-Scott said.
The national domestic violence hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-7233. In Vermont, the domestic violence hotline can be reached at 800-228-7395, and the sexual violence hotline is at 800-489-7273.
