Released felons do not possess the means to pay off debt. The conclusion is that these ordered fines are unrecoverable. That is an adopted school of thought. Time should be spent on other cases with a greater chance for debt recovery. That thought is changing.

After reviewing your notes, taking inventory of what’s happening at home, what can you do to make compliance better? First, put your ducks in a row.

While implementing software may seem time-consuming and costly, there are other tools available that can be employed more quickly and cost-effectively through the use of AI and QR technology.

There are a million reasons rolling through my mind on why I can’t do something.  I have perfectly good excuses.  It could be lack of time, lack of money, or maybe I just don’t understand how to do what you’re asking. Thinking different can make all the difference. Ultimately you Gotta Wanna make the necessary changes to improve outcomes.

A new year encourages promises for change. But a promise requires action and action requires a plan. To realize your goals for 2023 and beyond take a good look at the plan and put it into action. It’s not always an out of box solution. In most cases, some assembly is required.

There are over 15.7 million licensed drivers in Florida. Growing traffic has produced declining driving habits.  Distracted drivers and aggressive driving behaviors along with limitations in traffic enforcement, all contribute to potentially hazardous driving conditions.

Improvements come from focusing on needs and reaching for them. What can you do to make your compliance program better?

Criminal cases never really go away; they remain unsolved unless someone picks them up again. The case remains open and unsolved after a period of three years. Fine and Cost debt can also go cold. After pursing payments during the first year a debt is ordered, recovery efforts are turned over to collection agents.

When it comes to creative thinking, you may have heard the phrase, “just think out of the box.” Thinking outside the box means to apply different solutions created from a fresh perspective.

In 2020 there were 2 million citations issued in Florida. Nearly 71,000 traffic citations were issued in Florida for failure to pay traffic fines in 2021 according to a recent report published by News 4 Jax . Without a driver’s license it becomes difficult to work. Working with the justice system and local agencies the Clerk’s Office of Duval County put together a program to help restore driver’s license privileges to get citizens legally back on the road in the inaugural LET’S DRIVE JAX campaign.

Are you keeping up with your customer? It’s worth considering in your compliance program. Once the judge orders payments due it is the customer’s obligation to pay. And if they don’t pay, penalties apply such as collection agent referrals with late fees and driver’s license suspension.

An active compliance program creates immediate awareness and compliance assistance to customers through managed payment plans. These installment agreements look at ability to pay and consider court payments for all cases in the system. Once initiated a good plan builds in a notifications and reminder system to nudge timely responses.

It’s important to get payment compliance off to the right start. It begins from the courtroom at the time of sentencing. The judge controls the initial message about how much the fine is and when it gets repaid. Who do you think your customer is going to pay the most attention to while in the courtroom?

When you see it, you can solve it. Acknowledging a homeless case opens options for a proper case resolution. Services and social agency assistance are available at the state and local level. The process beings at the initial court appearance to arrange attorney representation and bond. A homeless status can be uncovered as part of the defendant’s background review for court. The homeless cry for help becomes clearly visible. Once acknowledged, the justice community has the obligation to defer the case for additional screening.

Compliance service has evolved from bill collection to financial counseling. The bill payor comes to the courthouse or through online services to review payment terms and resolve their court ordered debt.

Compliance Service clerks join with bill payors to assist customers in completing their court obligation. Clerks initiate a payment conversation to either pay in full or make time-based payments in a payment plan. This allows customers to keep in compliance without closing the debt immediately and avoids the risk of enforcement sanctions for failing to pay.

There were over 15.3 million registered Florida drivers in 2018. Drivers don’t always obey traffic laws. Law enforcement officers write over 2.6 million tickets each year that then must be resolved through the courts. Despite the increases in population and traffic on Florida highways, citation filings have declined and continue to fall.

What are your goals? Do they align with the work you want to accomplish? Are you properly staffed and resourced to perform the work? Do you regularly communicate goals with your team, and do they understand the mission?