Rewiring the rulebook

Accenture began by engaging with all the participants; the Police Crime Commissioner for Sussex, the courts, the Probation Service, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police forces involved to establish an agreement to work together collaboratively. And with this commitment in place, a strategic decision was taken to start the project small and scale it up over time.

The solution is currently in its initial roll-out phase and is now operational in Medway Magistrates Court, Kent, where the first hearings are now being linked up via video. Over the coming year additional releases of the tool will be rolled out to handle scheduling and on-the-day video links, allowing other participants to take part along with prosecutors and defense lawyers. The solution will then be embedded into the summary courts of the South East region, opening the way to wider uptake by other courts and regions across the country.

The criminal justice system is actually made up of several different systems working together. At its root, the VEJ program supported and delivered by Accenture is about making all these components—and the data that flows through them—collaborate and interact more efficiently and effectively, from end to end. Which means lower cost, higher adaptability and speed, and a better experience for everybody involved.

The results are already beginning to flow. Stakeholders are already pointing to better, faster handing of cases, a more responsive approach to the needs and experience of citizens, and further benefits around the efficiency and speed of related processes such as case file management.

"We started by just looking at police officer time. But eventually we would like to extend this and make it possible for the CPS to prosecute via the video link as well. Defense solicitors could also give defense support via video link and ultimately a prisoner on remand could do so too. So while using video link isn't new, this is about taking that technology and making it even more efficient than it already is—making the entire system a lot more efficient," said Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne.