Crime and Criminal Justice Research Findings No. 49Postal Witness Citation and Countermanding: An Evaluation of the Mechanised System Piloted in Glasgow, Ayr and Lanark
Ian Clark
Historically, witnesses have been summoned to court to give evidence by a legal document served in person by a police officer or, more recently in some areas, by a civilian process server. Witness citation and countermanding by post were first piloted on a small scale during 1996 and 1997 in Ayr and Kilmarnock. This paper presents findings from the first eight months of a larger-scale pilot conducted in Glasgow, Ayr and Lanark during 1998-99. |
Main Findings
- During the pilot, the proportion of civilian citations issued by post in Glasgow varied between 32% and 65%. Staff shortages in Glasgow Procurator Fiscal's Office may have adversely affected citation rates at various times during the pilot. In Ayr and Lanark the postal citation rate was consistently higher (around 75%).
- The response rate to postal citation for witnesses in Glasgow varied between 53% and 86% during the study period. In Ayr it gradually improved from 57% at the outset to 65% in March 1999 and in Lanark it varied between 42% and 76%.
- Low response rates to postal citation inevitably increased the burden on process servers and police to deliver reissued citations promptly.
- In Glasgow, between 43% and 55% of countermands were sent by post each month. In Ayr and Lanark, virtually all countermands were issued postally.
- During the first six months of the pilot, estimated monthly costs of postal citation marginally outweighed notional savings. A rise in postal citation rates of about 9% would allow notional savings to match running costs.
- Witnesses generally understood the main purpose of postal citation and the need to return the acknowledgement by post. Eighty five per cent of witnesses surveyed were satisfied with being cited by post.
- Witnesses who did not acknowledge their postal citation were asked to complete an evaluation form. A quarter of respondents claimed that they had not received a postal citation. Another quarter said they forgot to return the acknowledgement by post. Only 3% reported damage to the citation package.
- The printers and machinery used in the pilot were reported to be highly reliable.
- Although many of the findings were encouraging, there appeared to be scope for improvement in both the operation of the mechanised system and the way the statistics for monitoring the scheme are calculated.
The new postal citation scheme
The postal citation pilot was based in Glasgow Procurator Fiscal's Office (PFO) and commenced in Glasgow, Ayr and Lanark in August 1998. Before the pilot started, citations were invariably served on witnesses by police officers or civilian process servers. The new postal citation and countermand system used customised sealed packs enclosing the legal documents, which were fed through a fast printer. Case-specific details were overprinted onto carbon strips, and the name and address of the witness was printed on the outer envelope. Witnesses were instructed to sign an acknowledgement that they had received the citation and would attend court as directed, and return it to the PFO within 14 days in the part of the envelope that formed a pre-paid return envelope.
During the pilot, eligible civilian witnesses were to be cited by first-class post at least six weeks before the trial date (children, vulnerable and intimidated witnesses and other categories of civilian witness continued to receive citations by personal service). Countermands were issued by first-class post up to three working days before (and excluding) the trial date.
Research objectives and methods
The main aims of the evaluation were:
- to consider the effectiveness of postal citation and countermanding
- to evaluate the impact and benefits of the new system
- to assess its resource implications for both the Procurator Fiscal Service (PFS) and the police
The evaluation involved collecting and comparing retrospective and contemporary data on the volume and success of citations and countermands issued in each area. The costs incurred by both the PFS/Crown Office and the police in setting up and running the new system were analysed, and notional savings to the police accruing from its operation were estimated. Evaluation forms returned by witnesses who had apparently failed to acknowledge a postal citation were analysed and questionnaires were administered to a sample of witnesses attending Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Limitations of the research
Where no systematic data were available, reliance had to be placed on anecdotal evidence from prosecutors, court staff and civilian process servers. As the police do not normally need to collect and analyse data on witness citations and other legal documents received for service, it was difficult to estimate police costs and notional savings, and these were ultimately prepared on the basis of data from one Glasgow division. The PFO statistics contained a number of anomalies which suggested that staff did not always follow correct procedures. Changes made to the system during the pilot were necessary to fine-tune the new system, but complicated the task of comparing data month by month. Despite these problems, the research has produced some useful findings that will help to inform decisions about the future of the scheme.
Postal citation issue and response rates
According to the Glasgow PFO statistics, the proportion of civilian citations issued by post fell in Glasgow from 65% in September 1998 to 32% in December and 34% in January 1999, but rose again to 54% in March. Staffing shortages may have adversely affected citation rates at various times during the course of the pilot. However, in Ayr and Lanark the citation rate was consistently higher _ at least 75% until November 1998. In December it dropped to 60% in Ayr and 66% in Lanark, but recovered to, respectively, 74% and 80% in March 1999.
In the earlier pilot postal citation scheme in Ayr and Kilmarnock, the response rate (the proportion of postal citations successfully acknowledged by witnesses) was over 75%. Although there was no initial target set for the present pilot, a similar response rate in Glasgow would probably have been regarded as acceptable. However, during the pilot the response rates in all three locations were variable. In Glasgow, the response rate was approximately 55% until it rose to 82% in December 1998 and 86% in January 1999, before declining to 53% in March. In Ayr it gradually improved from 57% in September 1998 to 65% in March 1999, including a high of 76% in December. The response rate in Lanark varied between 42% and 76%.
Postal countermanding appears to have been highly successful in Ayr and Lanark, where virtually all countermands were sent by post. In Glasgow between 43% and 55% of countermands were issued by post each month.
The experience of witnesses
Evaluation forms were returned by 598 witnesses, representing at least 12% of all postal citations issued between August 1998 and March 1999 that were not acknowledged. A quarter of the witnesses who returned evaluation forms claimed that they had not received a postal citation. Another quarter said they had forgotten to return the acknowledgement. Only 3% reported that the citation pack had sustained damage.
Questionnaires were also administered to 92 witnesses attending Glasgow Sheriff Court during seven days between late January and late March 1999. The main purpose of postal citations seemed to be well understood, with 95% of questionnaire respondents recognising that the citation was important and 99% understanding that they should attend court on the given date. At least 80% of respondents knew that they should sign the acknowledgement and return it to the PFO within 14 days. Eighty per cent said that they did return the acknowledgement; 16% said they did not. Eighty nine per cent said the citation had been delivered in good condition, and only 2% said it had arrived badly damaged. A quarter found it difficult to open the citation pack without tearing the documents inside. Eighty five per cent were satisfied with being cited by post.
Costs and notional savings
Two-thirds of the expenditure incurred by the PFO and Crown Office during the first six months of the pilot consisted of hardware and development costs. Average running costs were estimated to be £4,931 per month. Based on figures from one Glasgow police division, operating the new system brought average notional savings to the police of £4,554 per month. Running costs outweighed notional savings by £277 per month. However, a rise in postal citation and countermand rates of around 9% would allow notional savings to match running costs.
The effectiveness of the new system
Comparatively low citation and/or response rates in one month seemed to have an effect on the rates the following month, although the way in which the statistics were calculated made it impossible to measure any knock-on effect with precision. However, a low response rate inevitably increases the burden for process servers and police to deliver reissued citations promptly, and limits the potential for savings to be made by the police. Although process servers had perceived a drop in the overall volume of citations to be delivered, the need to serve more citations urgently (due to the delay caused by failed postal citation) led to a change in their working practices and some areas had to be visited more often.
Neither the old system nor the new one was likely to be able to deliver citations with 100% effectiveness, as witnesses who had moved house or changed job had to be traced, and the quality of address information was not as good as had been hoped at the outset. About 14% of witnesses who returned evaluation forms said that they had already sent back the acknowledgement, and this was substantiated by process servers who had received similar complaints when delivering replacement citations. It appears that some witnesses were given less time to respond to citations than others due to the way the computer system recognised a 'failed' postal citation. If a replacement citation was triggered prematurely, it follows that the system ignored some valid responses and incorrectly calculated a lower response rate. This scenario could be prevented either by extending the interval between the citation issue date and the trial or by modifying the computer software.
Conclusions
The evaluation found that postal citation and countermanding works, although there appears to be room for improvement in both the operation of the system and the way that the statistics for monitoring the scheme are calculated. However, the printers and machinery were highly reliable. Improved postal citation and countermand rates would increase PFO running costs and notional police savings, with notional savings tending to rise faster than costs. Informed by the research, the decision was taken to continue the pilot throughout 1999 and into 2000, enabling a number of different delivery mechanisms to be investigated.
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