ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Social media is now being used as a tool that may help court cases in St. Johns County move forward faster, and all thanks to an idea from an intern at the clerk’s office.
Social media has been used for a lot of things including connecting with friends and family. Now, St. Johns County will be using it to locate people for court cases.
Hannah Vanover, an intern at the St. Johns County Clerk’s Office came up with the idea.
“So, while they might not know exactly where that person is, they did have this social media access, and the person was still posting on social media. So, I figured if the sheriff’s department has access to the social media information that they would be able to put together a pattern of life and be able to find these people who are avoiding service,” Vanover said.
The clerk’s office loved the idea.
“I was immediately blown away, I mean just the positive attitude that she brought forward presenting this idea really highlighted that our internship works,” Chief Administrative Officer for St. Johns County Clerk Ashanti Austin said.
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The clerk is collaborating with the sheriff’s office and started using social media to locate people in July.
“It was incredible. It’s always been my dream to give back to my community and use what I have learned over my studies even in just this internship to help make the world a better place,” Vanover said.
Since the idea became a part of the workflow in the county, staff has already been getting feedback.
“We have received some positive feedback from the sheriff’s office because a lot of times they run into problems serving its respondents in injunction cases,” Austin said. “What it does is it slows down the case progressing through the courts and so we received ‘this is great we run into this issue all the time’ and knowing their social media handles will allow us to track their social media to maybe help identify their location.”
With social media being such an important part of daily life, it can also help court cases move forward.