Chief Justice Bryan Sykes is expecting the soon-to-be-rolled out Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) — which will digitise court processes for easier access — to not only benefit court users but also translate into significant savings and more productivity, especially for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Speaking at the contract signing for the design, development, and implementation of the IECMS at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in St Andrew last Wednesday, Justice Sykes said the IECMS will provide a basis for people to interact with the courts from where they are once they have Internet connection.

“No longer will police officers have to drive from the hills of whatever parish they are in to come down to the head station in the parish court to hand in a case. Once they have connection, they can sit in their office and upload and send it to the court. It means immediately the commanding officer will have more officers available to him or her for the parish,” said Justice Sykes.

He argued that with the introduction of the IECMS there should be no more claims that, “Corporal X is now driving down from Ulster Springs to Duncans, Trelawny, and that is going to be perhaps a one-and-a half or two-hour round trip if he doesn’t have a flat tyre and so on”.

According to Justice Sykes, the IECMS might even have the effect of abolishing a time-old complaint by cops to citizens needing their services.

“The complaint that sometimes comes from the police, ‘we can’t attend to you now because the vehicle is gone elsewhere,’ a lot of that will be coming to an end, there will be significant savings in terms of the expenditure on gas, tyres, and wear and tear on the vehicles,” the chief justice argued.

“It also means… because there are no remand facilities in the western section of the island — all of the remand facilities are in Kingston, St Andrew, and St Catherine — and so this practice of transporting persons over a hundred miles down to Montego Bay, down to Westmoreland, or down to St Elizabeth for them to spend two minutes in court and then be transported back, we are bringing that to an end because what that means is, you need at least six to seven police officers to carry this out; to drive the truck, to escort the vehicle and so on, so all of that now will result in significant savings to the JCF,” he contended.

By extension, Justice Sykes said the Department of Correctional Services also stands to see improvements.

“When we deploy this, the Department of Corrections will benefit in that they won’t necessarily be having to get the persons on remand ready to leave the physical space of the correctional facilities to go to court for a case management date. You can have the containers there and you just bring them inside the container, the camera connects them, they come into the court, the matter is disposed of and they return from where they are coming,” said the chief justice as he argued that this mechanism can also help control the risk of people escaping custody.

“The Department of Corrections, when it comes to their probation reports, they don’t necessarily have to come to court now to be sworn before the judge, they can stay where they are and come in electronically as needed and answer such questions as they are able to and so that is the benefit to us or the attorney at law,” Sykes added.

He further pointed out that the IECMS is not just for the judiciary as it will provide a platform to use digital solutions to increase access to justice.

“We have underserved and unserved populations, persons with disabilities, persons with impairment who may have difficulty just moving around generally and getting to and from the courts.

“The IECMS will provide a basis that those persons can interact with the courts from where they are once they have [Internet connection]. And so we have to think of the justice system differently. We are not digitising a paper system, that’s not what we are doing, what we are doing is creating a digital environment to improve efficiency so I don’t want anybody to look at the paper and then try to replicate it in the digital space. The two things we have to be concerned about are the delivery of the service and the authenticity of the documents that come out of that service. The safety of the system is important,” the chief justice said further.

He noted that once there is connectivity, attorneys will be able to get access to their files in the Director of Public Prosecutions Office without carrying around heavy files.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Delroy Chuck thanked the chief justice for his “vision and insistence” and said he has jealously guarded the funds which are now available.

“The IECMS will serve as a single seamless digital platform that connects every component of the justice chain from investigation to prosecution, adjudication, and, if necessary, the correctional management system,” said Chuck as he pointed out that all criminal cases will be filed, processed, and tracked electronically.

According to Chuck, other benefits of the IECMS include reduction in case delays and backlog, improved tracking, communication and enhanced transparency and public access, as well as substantial cost savings, reduced paper usage and overheads, translating into significant savings to the public purse.

Meanwhile, chief executive officer of Rwanda Corporation Patricie Uwase said Jamaica’s adaptation of the IECMS, which is used in her country with great success, represents a bold forward step.

“For us this is not just about technology, it is about the vision, leadership, and the collective determination to strengthen justice and governance through digital transformation,” said Uwase as she argued that the system will change Jamaica’s justice sector by improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability.