Is your town rich from municipal court fines? Reform bill wants public to know

Kala Kachmar | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Municipal courts: In need of reform Municipal courts are in need of reform. The video explains several conflicts of interest within the system that hurt you.The USA Today Network New Jersey is your source for coverage.

Has someone in your family been unfairly ticketed? Is your town abusing residents in a quest for revenue?

These questions could be answered by a municipal court reform bill that, if passed by the Legislature and signed into law, would give the public access to details about how their courts are operating.

MORE: NJ municipal courts: Is it justice or a shakedown?

"Once we see this data, we'll clearly be able to see where there are abuses," said state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, the bill's sponsor. The bill would require all municipal court data — including infractions, tickets, outcomes, fines and fees — be collected quarterly and made available in a searchable online database.

MORE: Local lawmakers who profit from municipal courts could derail reform

The bill is part of a larger statewide effort to improve the municipal courts. In July, the state Supreme Court issued a scathing report on municipal fines and fees that question the fairness and independence of local courts. Several stories from an ongoing Asbury Park Press and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey investigation into local court abuses were cited in the report.

The public would be able to see the information broken down by town, O'Scanlon said. He said transparency is an important part of the reform process.

MORE: NJ chief justice pushes municipal court reform

O'Scanlon, who has already proposed three municipal court reform bills on the heels of the report, said he had trouble getting comprehensive information about municipal courts from the state judiciary. He said much of the information wasn't available, and the information that was available wasn't easily accessible.

According to the bill, municipalities that don't comply with the reporting requirements wouldn't be able to impose a fine over $25.

"I wanted to get a comprehensive list of what’s being charged, who is being convicted, how many, what infractions, how much money. I wanted everything. I should be able to get that," he said. "In this stage of the information age, why is there not an aggregated source of this data? Someone probably doesn’t want us to see it."

O'Scanlon said he knows that some towns are pressuring police officers to write more tickets or write certain kinds of tickets.

"The victims here are the people who got tickets that shouldn't have been written. The victims are the cops who are forced to be the face of this perverted sense of justice, O'Scanlon said. "The victims are the good judges who are there to be fair and (carry out) justice rather than arbitrary maximum punishment."

READ: Municipal courts slam poor hardest

READ: NJ attorney general demands improvements

For the latest on municipal court reform efforts, keep checking app.com for coverage.

Kala Kachmar: @NewsQuip; 732-643-4061; kkachmar@gannettnj.com