Baltimore County police describe new electronic protective‑order routing to speed service

Major Fisher of the Baltimore County Police Department told the Domestic Violence Committee that the county has implemented a new electronic transmission process so that protective orders signed by a judge are routed directly from the court’s electronic inbox to police records. “Once that order is signed electronically, it’s able to be sent electronically to the police department,” Major Fisher said during the committee meeting.

The change replaces a manual relay that once required clerk offices, the 9‑1‑1 center, officers in the field and records staff to exchange paper or faxed orders. According to the presentation, those handoffs sometimes produced delays of hours before an officer could attempt service. Major Fisher said the manual process created a heavy workload for the three main stakeholders — the courts, the police department and the 9‑1‑1 center — and traced planning meetings on the project…