What is Court Watch?
Court Watch is a citizen run volunteer program that holds the court system accountable for the decisions it makes regarding case disposition and adjudication. The program does this by citizen monitoring of various aspects of the courts from pre-trial release hearings, trials, and sentencing. It basically gets neighborhoods to participate in the court process, allowing them to understand and perhaps influence how it is operated. While this concept is new to the Charlotte area, it thrives in others such as New Orleans where a well organized Court Watch program is in place.
Imagine this… A known prolific offender who has repeatedly been through the “system” has been arrested again for breaking into a home in your neighborhood. The Court Watch group that you belong to is notified and arranges for someone to go to the hearing where this person’s pre-trial release is being considered. A Community Impact letter is generated and sent by the group to the District Attorney’s Office, requesting consideration when pursuing the charges, which is then added to the case file. A Court Watch member is in the courtroom each time this subject is in court.
Getting started. The University City Division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is willing to facilitate the creation of such a group in this area. A similar program has been initiated in the Providence Division by members of the community who are tired of being victimized by the same people who keep going through the system, and those who want to make everyone in the criminal justice system accountable, hopefully making their neighborhoods safer places to live. The Providence group was originally a small group of people, with a relatively small focus area. A couple of members stepped up to be the leaders of the group, and they are becoming more and more organized. The group works closely with officers to identify chronic offenders in their community that they are going to follow through the system.
The group has designed a logo to be used with the Police Division logo for shirts they are having made up. The idea is that each Division will have its own color shirt and members will be easily recognizable in court. They are also creating a website with information about their program and notes from their observations and experiences.
Interested? If you are interested in being a part of this new program, please e-mail Officer A. Stukey at astukey@cmpd.org indicating your name, address, and neighborhood. A meeting will be scheduled here at the University City Division team office on University Executive Park Dr. This letter is the seedling for this program; it is now up to residents to cultivate this program. There is likely to be some trial and error, but this program has the potential of being very successful in this area. We sent this out last year with only a few respondents. Please consider participating in this program.
Please check out the following website from the New Orleans program. The focus of this group may not be exactly what is intended for the University City group, but it does provide some useful information. Website: http://courtwatchnola.com
