Mr Brett Collyer1, Mr Darren COLLYER
1Queensland Police Service, ,
On average 3,646 warrants are issued within Ipswich Police District, Queensland, each year for fail to attend appointed court dates. This represents considerable demand for limited policing resources while competing priorities continue to increase. There is a need to identify emerging technologies which law enforcement agencies can employ to significantly improve resource allocations. This presentation reports on a trial using email to SMS technology to reduce the number of persons wanted on warrants following missed court dates. The trial specifically aimed to increase the rate of wanted persons actioning failure to appear warrants by voluntarily attending/contacting a court or police station. A total of 315 persons named in warrants were randomly assigned to receive the SMS message within 24-72 hours of a warrant being issued. A further 311 persons were assigned to a control group over a four-month period. We identified a statistically significant (p <0.01) increase in the number of warrants being finalised with no significant impact on the time to execute warrants. The results from this trial demonstrate that many persons named in warrants are willing to finalise their outstanding matters when given the opportunity. Policy implications and future directions are discussed.
Biography:
Senior Constable Brett COLLYER’s substantive position is a General Duties Officer at Ipswich Police Station within the QPS. As General Duties Officer Brett is required to perform duties that allow him to respond, disrupt and prevent crime within the community. Brett is interested in evidence-based strategies that can be implemented to assist in the disruption, prevention of crime and improve community satisfaction.
For Ipswich District this includes using Email to SMS technology to nudge persons named in warrants to attend to their outstanding matters