Background

Clerks can request service from law enforcement agencies (City Police Departments, Sheriffs) electronically within LegalAtoms. This means that clerks click on a button and the correct set of case documents are securely sent within the LegalAtoms portal to the Law Enforcement Agency. They can also be attached to the e-mail optionally.

The law enforcement agency can then opt to e-serve the documents to the respondent with a single click, or print and serve in person (required in situations involving firearms for example)

Serving Multiple Law Enforcement Agencies

A common situation is that the clerk needs to request different law enforcement agency because the first one was accidental or the known addresses of the respondent are in different jurisdictions.

Step 1

In the Law Enforcement Packet section, the clerk clicks “Notify”

Step 2

Select the Law Enforcement Agency and optionally enter any message.

By default the most recently used law enforcement LegalAtoms automatically inserts basic text

Step 3

When the clerk is ready to send out the packet, the clerk clicks on Notify.

The clerk will now see a timestamp appear in green font. This remains there for future reference.

There’s also a notification on the lower right indicating that the law enforcement agency has been notified

Law Enforcement’s Point of View

Law enforcement will receive an e-mail notification

On logging in they will see the request as a line item at the top of their Dashboard.

Step 4

Now suppose the clerk wants to notify another law enforcement agency. This can be easily done by clicking on the “Notify” button.

Now the clerk can notify any law enforcement. They will be notified the same way i.e. law enforcement will receive an email notification and can view the documents securely in the LegalAtoms portal

A second law enforcement notification appears

Step 5

Service

Now each law enforcement will have it’s own copy of the following section so they can individually serve the respondent without stomping on each/other’s data

• E-serve:  E-serving or serving in person
• Proof of Service Documents : Creating Proof of Service. The Proof of Service will only document attempts from the law enforcement agency filing the proof of service only
• Notify: Sending out the Proof of Service (to the Clerk and the petitioner (client)) with a single click

The second law enforcement agency will see it’s own Proof of Service Document section which will be independently from the first one’s.

Constraints for Consistency

LegalAtoms automatically takes the following actions to maintain consistency

• Disable E-service section on editing of Proof of Service documents inline: Reason: Avoid the automated system, and the law enforcement human user overwriting one another’s edits in the Proof of Service documents. Background: Every time there is an e-service attempt, the Proof of Service is updated by LegalAtoms with the E-service attempt

• Proof of Service Documents immutable after Proof of Service is complete. Once the Proof of Service is sent to the clerk its officially then filed and therefore no modifications are allowed then. This is to ensure that the filed copy is what the law enforcement sees.

Both law enforcement agencies will be able to see one/another’s copy of the Proof of Service.