Electronic Warrants in Utah

A Success Story

Lt. Christian Newlin, Utah Highway Patrol

Imagine a World…• Every case has a chemical test (resfusals don’t matter)

• Prosecutor Quotes: “2 in the last 13 years (without a test)” “None.” “I can’t remember any.” “I can’t remember the last time…”

• Average time from submission to return: 10-20 minutes

• Officer-Phlebotomists (no HIPAA/EMS concerns)

• Officers back on the road MUCH sooner

• Reduced continuances/suppression hearings = more proactive policing

Resistance to warrant service = Obstruction of justice charge

Example Case: July 14, 2019

• Arrested @ 03:11 am

• Warrant submitted @ 4:05 am

• Warrant approved @ 4:14 am (9 minutes)

• Blood Draw @ 4:32 am

• Time from submission to draw: 27 minutes (12 minutes to transport…so actually 15 minutes from submission to service)

Why Electronic Warrants?

•Case Law:

Missouri v. McNeely: 133 S.Ct. 1552 (2013)

Birchfield v. North Dakota: 136 S.Ct. 2160 (2016)

Mitchell v. Wisconsin: 588 U.S. ___ (2019)

History and Use in Utah

• Developed in 2006-2007

• In production since 2008

• Initially started only with blood draw and general warrant

• Since April, 2016, 32,657 warrant submissions (all types), 31,661 approved

• Ave. 10,000/year with 96.9% approval rate

Types of Warrants Available

• Blood: DUI

• General

• Drone (UAV) Deployment

• Prescription Database (DOPL)

• Electronic Service Provider

• GPS Tracker

• EMS Worker Blood Draw

• Extensions

How It Works

A Word on Utah Bureaucracy

Bureau of Criminal

Identification (BCI)

Utah Criminal Justice

Information System (UCJIS)

Administrative Office of the

Courts (AOC)

COurt Records Information

System (CORIS)

(Cops) (Lawyers)

E-Warrant Workflow

Officer Information to

BCI/UCJIS

Administrative Office of the

Courts (CORIS)Judge

Approval/Denial to AOC/CORIS

Approval/Denial to UCJIS/Officer

Return of Service from

UCJIS to CORIS

(71% of resubmissions

are approved)

Characteristics of Utah’s System

• No person-to-person interaction required

• Oath on affidavit verified by language and e-signature: “oath or written affidavit subscribed under criminal

penalty…”

• E-signatures on affidavit (officer) and warrant (judge) accepted because of seal, time stamps, and login credentials to the systems

• Retention Policy: 20 days in UCJIS after ROS, indefinitely in CORIS

• Ongoing funding provided by DUI impound fee and moving traffic citation surcharge (35% on top of fine)

Development Process

• One-time development funding from grants to BCI/AOC

• Steering committee: District and justice court judges, prosecutors, BCI bureau director, programming director for AOC, council on criminal/juvenile justice

• Programming bridge between BCI (UCJIS) and AOC (CORIS) for warrants

• Pilot agencies

• On-call rotation for judges:

Challenges to Implementation

• Gaining law enforcement and judiciary trust

• Providing sufficient training

• Electronic Warrant Signature: Required changes to judicial rules (URCRP Rule 40, Subsection (l))

• On-Call Judge list

Current Challenges

• Defense GRAMA/FOIA:

Requests logs of all warrants applied/granted/denied

Provides a free, independent oversight in a sense

• Extremely short review times (rare)

Resources, Assistance, and Advice

www.responsibility.org

“A Guide to Implementing Electronic Warrants”

Executive Summary

Model Legislative Checklist

Best Practices and Steps for Implementation

• Identify stakeholders and build a group

• Identify system needs (technological, bureaucratic, business process, etc.)

• Identify funding sources

• Solicit input from frontline/end users on ideal operation

• Ensure use of device-agnostic technology (iOS v. Droid, Mac v. Windows v. Linux…)

***Pulled from Responsibility.org Executive Summary and “Guide to Implementing Electronic Warrants”

Others to Talk To

• IACP & NHTSA

• Your Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor (TSRP) HINT: search for “national TSRP list”

https://ndaa.org/wp-content/uploads/TSRP-List.pdf

• State Highway Safety Office HINT: search for “national highway safety office list”

https://www.ghsa.org/about/shsos

• Your statewide or local prosecutor/defense/judge associations

• National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) https://ndaa.org/

• Local Chiefs’ and Sheriffs’ Associations

• Police unions, Fraternal Order of Police, state police/highway patrol associations

• Civilian advocacy groups (MADD, Responsibility.org, ACLU, etc.)

Contact Information

Lt. Christian Newlin

Utah Highway Patrol

cnewlin@utah.gov

801-503-6516