General Overview
The Prince George’s County court system serves approximately 800,000 people. Recently, Prince George’s County Court began providing electronic public access to its court records through CourtLink. There is no cost to Prince George’s County for providing court record information through CourtLink. But, users accessing the court system through CourtLink.

Court Record System Overview
The court record case management system reports that all criminal cases since 1981 and all other cases since 1986 are available for electronic public access.
 

Court Case Filings	1998 Reported Filings
Civil	11,400
Criminal	8,900
Juvenile	17,500

Electronic Public Access Methods
Information is provided to the public electronically by one public terminal located in the Criminal Division at the court and through CourtLink.  The public accessing the Prince George’s County court system from a remote location must use the CourtLink Windows-based software application. Direct access to the Prince George’s County court system is not available through direct dial or through the Internet.

CourtLink currently requires an IBM compatible ‘486, running Microsoft Windows 3.x or higher operating system, 4 MB RAM, hard disk with 3 MB of available disk space, and a 14.4 kbps modem or LAN connection to the Internet. The CourtLink software is available free by calling the company or downloading from their web site at www.courtlink.com.

Available Information
The public has access to more than 21.5 million court records, but not the same access as the court employees. Security and privacy concerns limit the type and amount of information presented to the public. Current available systems include Criminal, Civil, Family, and Court Scheduling.

Subscribers & Fees
Electronic Public Access to the Prince George’s County court system is billed directly to the subscriber through CourtLink. CourtLink demographics indicate the vast majority of users are law firms, followed by investigators, tenant/employee screening companies, accounting firms, information services, media, insurance companies, credit bureaus, corporations, government entities, and banks.

Development & Maintenance Costs 
Because CourtLink provides the Electronic Public Access to Prince George’s County court records, there was no charge to Prince George’s County for development. CourtLink also absorbs all maintenance costs and Help Desk and support functions. Development of the system interface for Prince George’s County took approximately ten weeks.

Court & EPA Staffing Information
There are approximately 300 employees in the Prince George’s County Court System. About 30 clerks handle case filings, maintain court records, answer inquiries from the counter and the phone about cases. Court technical support is handled with a staff of two. Because electronic public access is through CourtLink, there are no additional staffing requirements to Prince George’s County court system.