Most people don’t give much thought to the criminal justice system unless they need to access it. Our client, the Fannin County Criminal District Attorney, wanted to be more accessible and approachable to the public. So, the main goal for the website was to help the public navigate the criminal justice system and work with the DA’s office to prevent and solve crimes.
A good example of making the DA’s office easy to work with involves a crime that virtually any small business owner has had to deal with: hot checks. On the website, merchants can learn about how to prevent hot checks, and download all of the information they need to collect on hot checks and press charges if necessary. In the past, this would have necessitated phone calls and visits or snail mail interactions with the DA’s office. Also, people who have written hot checks can make a payment to settle their hot checks online 24/7 by clicking from this site into the County’s payment processing system.
It was also important for crime victims to access resources available to them, such as the DA’s in-house victim assistance coordinator, and be able to fill out forms such as protective order requests.
Defense Attorneys will find easy access to DA procedures. They can even download fillable .PDF forms for filing plea agreements.
Of all the projects that we do, it’s especially rewarding to help the public and local government work together for the betterment of our community.
August 2015 update: The DA’s office reports that collections on hot checks are up dramatically since the website launched ($30K year-to-date. One thirteen-year-old check was settled through the website!).
Services provided: Completely new website (pages, graphics, forms, copywriting).
This site is a refresh of one we created three years ago. The new design enhanced accessibility, mobile-friendliness and added a site document and .PDF search capability.