Issuing eWarrants in Queensland Courts

QUEENSLAND COURTS

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PRO75C - Version: 1.0

1 Commencement

1.1 This procedure commenced 24 March 2021.

2 Purpose

2.1 This procedure outlines the processes required for registry staff within Queensland

Courts to create and manage electronic warrants (eWarrants).

3 Scope

3.1 This procedure applies to registry staff in Queensland Courts who are responsible for

generating, verifying, authorising, and sending warrants electronically to the

Queensland Police Service (QPS).

3.2 This procedure applies to warrants of apprehension only.

4 Definitions

Term Description

Approved

verifier

A registry staff member of CSQ with appropriate QWIC access

permission who can authorise eWarrants to be sent electronically to

the QPS. An approved verifier must not be the registry staff member

who created the warrant order, unless the courthouse is staffed by a

single registry staff member.

CSO Court Service Officer.

CSOs are responsible for assisting presiding officers and parties

prior to, during, and after court as required. They can also be

classified as registry staff members, however, not all registry staff

members are CSOs.

CSQ Court Services Queensland.

eWarrant A “computer warrant” within the meaning of Division 6A of the

Justices Act 1886. Also, referred to as an “electronic warrant”.

Presiding Officer A Judge, Magistrate, Judicial Registrar or other person empowered

and lawfully entitled to order the issue of a warrant.

Publish In this instance, publishing a warrant refers to the act of confirming

warrant details and releasing the information electronically to the

Queensland Police Service.

QPRIME Queensland Police Records and Information Management

Exchange.

QPRIME is QPS’ case management system.

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Term Description

QPS Queensland Police Service.

QWIC Queensland Wide Inter-linked Courts system.

The system used for the management of orders, including warrants

issued by Queensland Courts.

Registry staff

member

A CSQ registry staff member who has access permissions to enter

and modify records in QWIC.

Warrant In this instance, reference to warrants are defined as apprehension

warrants and unless the context suggests otherwise, includes an

eWarrant.

An apprehension warrant issued by a presiding officer authorises a

police officer to apprehend the person named on the warrant.

Warrant order When a person has failed to appear for a scheduled court

appearance, the presiding officer may issue an order for a warrant.

5 Roles and Responsibilities

5.1 The presiding officer orders a warrant to be issued when a person has failed to appear

for a scheduled court appearance.

5.2 The Court Service Officer (CSO) enters the presiding officer endorsed warrant order

details into the Queensland Wide Inter-linked Courts (QWIC) to generate the warrant.

The CSO alerts the approved verifier that there is a warrant that requires approval and

actioning.

5.3 The approved verifier reviews the warrant against the warrant order to ensure all

details are true and accurate and publishes the warrant.

5.4 Any registry staff member can action a warrant once returned from QPS.

6 Procedure

6.1 Court Service Officer enters details of warrant order in QWIC

6.1.1 When the presiding officer orders a warrant be issued, the CSO records the details of

the order in QWIC. These details will include the given name, date of birth, and

current known address of the person identified on the order and the relevant

legislation for the warrant.

6.1.2 The CSO then advises the approved verifier that the presiding officer has ordered a

warrant and it is currently awaiting approval.

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6.2 Approved verifier reviews and confirms details of warrant and sends the warrant

details to QPS

6.2.1 The approved verifier reviews the details of the warrant in QWIC against the warrant

order; if correct the approved verifier publishes the warrant.

6.2.2 If not correct the approved verifier advises the CSO of any discrepancies that require

amending. The CSO amends where required and returns it to the approved verifier.

6.2.3 Once the approved verifier publishes the warrant in QWIC, it is sent electronically to

QPS. QWIC automatically generates a message and sends it to QPS’ system

Queensland Records and Information Management Exchange (QPRIME).

6.3 Postponing an eWarrant

6.3.1 When the presiding officer orders the issuing of the warrant be postponed until a

certain date, the CSO enters the details of the warrant into QWIC but additionally

records the postponement date and reasons (if provided). QWIC will automatically

update the warrant status to show the warrant has been postponed. The warrant will

not be visible on QWIC until the postponement date.

6.3.2 On the scheduled postponement date, QWIC will display the warrant details, which

allows the approved verifier to publish the warrant.

6.4 Withdrawing or cancelling a warrant during period of postponement

6.4.1 If the presiding officer orders the withdrawal of a postponed warrant, the CSO

withdraws the warrant prior to the scheduled postponement date and promptly

updates the warrant status in QWIC to reflect that the warrant has been withdrawn

and cancelled.

6.5 QPRIME acknowledges or rejects warrant from QWIC

6.5.1 QPRIME returns an acknowledgement message to QWIC if the warrant has been

successfully received and processed by QPS.

6.5.2 QPRIME returns a rejection message to QWIC if the warrant has not been

successfully received and/or processed by QPS.

6.5.3 In both cases of an acknowledgement or rejection message, QWIC automatically

updates the status of the warrant and displays any additional information that has

been provided by QPS, such as the reason for rejection.

6.6 The registry staff member takes further action if warrant is rejected by QPRIME

6.6.1 The registry staff member can view the rejection message in QWIC. The registry staff

member checks the physical court file and corrects data entry errors (if any) and

either issues a replacement warrant, re-lists the matter before the court, or sends it

back to QPS.

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6.7 Recalling an eWarrant

6.7.1 If a person surrenders to the court prior to the warrant being executed by QPS, the

presiding officer may order the warrant to be recalled. The registry staff member will

record the order in QWIC, resulting in QWIC sending QPRIME a warrant recall

message. QPRIME will return an acknowledgement message. Upon receipt of the

message, QWIC will automatically update the warrant status.

6.7.2 If the registry staff member recalls a warrant due to a data entry error identified by

QPS, the registry staff member records the reasoning in QWIC, and upon QPRIME

returning an acknowledgement message, checks the physical court file and issues a

replacement warrant.

6.8 Execution of an eWarrant

6.8.1 On execution of a warrant QPS updates the details in QPRIME and information is

sent to QWIC. QWIC will automatically update the warrant status to show that the

warrant has been executed and displays the warrant execution details.

6.8.2 The registry staff member updates the next court date in QWIC for persons released

on police bail once they have received a copy of the QPS bail notice and a copy of

the QPS warrant report. The warrant report details the date the warrant was

executed, details of the person listed on the warrant and the offence details. Both are

provided as hard copies by QPS after executing the warrant.

6.8.3 If the person is held in custody to appear before the court, the registry staff member

is alerted by QPS by phone and updates the details on QWIC to list the matter to be

mentioned before the presiding officer on that day. QPS will provide a copy of all

substantive charges and a copy of the warrant report. Both are provided as hard

copies by QPS on the same day as the matter is mentioned in court.

6.8.4 When the matter has been heard in court and the file returned to the registry, the

registry staff member will enter the order of the court in QWIC, for example, bail or

remand in custody.

6.9 Manually producing an eWarrant

6.9.1 Paper-based warrants are only issued if the eWarrants function within QWIC is non-

operational. A paper warrant will comply with the requirements of section 69A of the

Justices Act 1886 and any other applicable legislative or regulatory requirements.