From Clunky Dinosaurs To Powerful Workhorses: Today´s kiosks are sleek, web-based and efficient, not the dust-collecting dinosaurs they once were.

In the past year, kiosks have been moving from the dull child in the classroom corner to the bright student leading the class. While kiosks once became rapidly antiquated and courts ran out of money before they could get them back on their toes, the past 12 or 15 months has shown a marked increase in desire to learn about them. From paying fines, fees and restitution to finding your way around the courthouse, this new powerful workhorse has seemed to find a home in the modern courthouse.

"There’s been a lot of interest," says Ron Graves, accountant manager, judicial solutions, of Phoenix Kiosk in Tempe, Ariz. "We´ve gotten onto [courts´] radar and they´re beginning to put kiosks into their plans." He says kiosks are used for making payments, jury check-in and probation accountability.

His company has created software for all these purposes and also manufactures the kiosks to host them. The kiosks vary from floor standing to desktop to wall mounted and are available in outdoor models as well as sit down versions.

Along with the mushrooming types of kiosks, applications are also proliferating. Earlier kiosks were often "help" kiosks that provided information to help traverse the courthouse, explains Ron Hodge, founder and CEO of EZ Card and Kiosk. Actually few courts currently have kiosks installed, but they may be making a comeback.

Very many more choices are available and due to budget cuts, courts are looking at them more closely. For example, budget cuts mean fewer payment windows and that translates to longer lines, especially at lunchtime and at 5pm. A kiosk can take some of the burden off of staff, Hodge continues.

This kiosk hardware and software technology is not new, but the capability simply gives the consumer more choices—and more ways to pay, including credit cards, may translate to more funds collected. Hodge notes that in the jails where the EZ payment kiosks were installed, within 90 days 50 percent of payments were made by credit card.

Early Mistakes
What were the issues the initial kiosks had with antiquation? Some of the early kiosks, which were in California, Utah and Arizona, served those that worked with divorce filings, explains Bryce Agnew, president of FutureTouch Technology in Cerritos, Calif. The company had those installations and also had a system in place in a San Antonio court in which patrons could make payments, request extensions, schedule traffic school or a court date.

"The problem was the laws and forms changed and required a substantial amount of updating," details Agnew, whose company also provides kiosks for government, human resources and health care. Thus, he says, a year or two after installation, it was common for the kiosks to be useless because the forms were outdated.

In addition to software updates, the ongoing maintenance must be accounted for as well as budgeting for new programming to accommodate upgrades in enterprise hardware and software. "A lot of people don´t consider that but it should be folded into your IT solutions," he points out. While the first kiosks worked well, he adds, "after a year or two there was no money to continue and we had to pull them out." FutureTouch offers turnkey solutions—including web-based Juri-Search software and a diverse number of kiosk cabinets made of a variety of furniture laminate finishes or powder coated steel. Models such as the Manhattan, Portico, Surfer and La Jolla are popular for courts, he says.

JuriSearch is a courthouse kiosk demonstration application designed to provide court services information and case documents for judges and lawyers. The information imparted includes a court personnel directory, courthouse schedule, maps, and legal forms.

Because of evolving technology it may be easier at this time for kiosks to be successful. One reason this may be so is that it is less expensive to bring information to the public, Agnew says. As web development took off during the past eight to 10 years, inhouse court programmers are better able to bring information to the public via their own internal software, bringing costs down. "Courts by and large have existing IT staff, and [they] will take over the support," he continues. If they don´t have internal staff some vendors, including FutureTouch, can provide support.

Others agree the level of IT support most courts needs has lessened. "A lot of times a customer has the software and needs a user interface to their jury management system," says Graves. Phoenix Kiosk can tie into courts´ probation, payments, jury check-in, wayfinding and docket display. They also have the ability to develop software, and they recently designed a jury check-in/jury service check printer housed in a kiosk for Maricopa County in Arizona.

In addition, its probation application authenticates the probationer with a fingerprint or a finger vein reader and they have recently received inquires to add a camera for verification purposes. On the Phoenix kiosk a probationer can leave a message and answer his housekeeping questions, and the software also can ask about employment search, etc. Thus far, the application has just undergone an initial limited use phase in Washington State District Court.

In contrast with a decade ago, the information retrieved on a kiosk was not web-based, says Megan O´Leary, sales and marketing manager, with Infax, Inc. of Duluth, Ga. This altered model for kiosk software, she says, can be an advantage because if a court starts with their own web page, their software may be easier to configure, ultimately resulting in lower programming costs. The company partners in the field with vendors such as Phoenix Kiosk and ACS.

Infax´s units allow self-service check-in by jurors and a touch screen wayfinding kiosk that guides the public through a court complex. With their installations, patrons can print out forms locally or e-mail the information to themselves, O´Leary explains. In conjunction with kiosks, Infax´s CourtSight Suite of software also displays docket data and juror information on large mounted LCD monitors, and its electronic court board displays public notices.

On the leading edge, Infax has a mobile application that is in beta testing, O´Leary explains. She says this new way to make data accessible is crucial to ensure the ability to reach as many stakeholders in the court as possible. For example, if a juror is in the wrong building, a text could be sent to their smart phone with directions to get them quickly to their proper destination.

Courts are also looking at the possibility that kiosks will be placed in nontraditional locations such as a mall or a local retailer like Walmart or Target. This added placement extends the window of time payments can be taken, making it more convenient for the public and potentially raising compliance.

Service, however, is an issue, advises O´Leary. The cash aspect can be overcome fairly easily because courts often have local affiliated banks make the cash pickups; also software can be remotely diagnosed by Infax. But another wrinkle is that the computer hardware company and the kiosk vendor must make service calls to the remote locations. While promising, these types of locations must still be tested by courts for their true viability.

Cash and Credit Takers
Kiosks can the headaches of money handling out of court´s hands. Las Vegas-based EZ Card and Kiosk, along with partner SFS, have designed a courts and probation platform that instantly enables courts to stop handling money by hand. Its solutions can be used to collect any monies including court payments, parking fees, traffic tickets, drug testing fees, child support payments, etc.

Because the EZ Card kiosk is fee based, there are no upfront or ongoing costs to the court, getting them up and running with no start-up costs. All the company needs from the court to install the kiosk is an Internet connection and a plug. Of course the device usually needs to tie into multiple computer management systems. Court IT staff typically provide the integration, Hodge reports, though his company provides assistance, if needed.

These kiosks can be placed in presecurity court areas or in another county office that is open longer hours. For this convenience, clients pay $2 per cash transaction (credit card transactions are based on the transfer amount to absorb the credit card merchant fees). The fees permit the system to pay for itself. Once patrons use the kiosk, the system attempts to migrate users to an 800 number or an online payment service for future payments. This is an advantage, Hodge says, from a risk management aspect. There won´t be as many people entering the courthouse and the fewer people to come across the threshold, the less liability they will face. "This little piece just takes a burden off of them," Hodge says.

Over the past year, the EZ Card kiosk in place at the City of Long Beach, N.Y., Police Department, has made a big difference. It is used for "just about everything," says Lt. Bill Dodge, commanding officer/TARU unit. That includes vehicle impound releases, accident report, block party fees, recording services like copies and fingerprinting, fees for taxi licensing, he details—"everything we accept cash for, we accept through this kiosk."

Scanning his reports while speaking to this reporter, Lt. Dodge says that since January 2011 through October 17 it collected fees for 500 impounds, 1,000 accident reports, 50 block parties, and that just scratches the surface.

For this south shore of Long Island beach front community where "we tow many cars, and beachgoers don´t carry a lot of cash, the ability to accept credit cards and some debit cards makes it easier for the public to retrieve their cars," Dodge reports.

But the best part is that "it counts the cash and prepares a receipt, and we never have to touch the cash," he says. This is a huge time saver because that money sometimes has to be counted seven or eight times a day, when shifts change or when it is transferred. It also keeps track of the sequence the bills were accepted and a bill validator checks for counterfeit bills, even permitting the owner to know exactly which bills were placed in by whom and at what time.

When handling money there is always the possibility of losing it, he says. One time, he recalls, an officer lost a bail payment when it fell behind the drawer in which it was kept. "It was only $100 but it becomes a perception problem," he points out. [The kiosk] mitigates costly investigations," he says. With it, potential to lose cash is eliminated—"there´s one entry into the system and it’s validated immediately," he notes. "It makes for nice accountability."
By Donna Rogers, Editor