Issue a Release Order

Once a Release Order is added to an initiating process, it can then be issued through the SUMMARY tab by a user with Issuing Authority. To issue a Release Order, the user must enter a Date Issued, Serving Officer, Date Served, and County Served. Once a Release Order is submitted with these fields, and other information detailed below, the Release Order is issued. Below are the steps to issue a Release Order.

Before you start:

Only users with the proper rights can issue a Release Order.
The process on a case to which a Release Order is assigned is based on whether the Release Order is added generally to a case, or specifically to a process. Click here for details.
Besides the required fields listed below, the required fields on the CONDITIONS OF RELEASE and COURT INFO tabs must also be entered to issue a Release Order.
When a Release Order is issued on a process with a single associated OFA of Unserved status, the OFA is automatically changed to a status of Served and Process Tracking/ACIS (note) will be updated to reflect service information. If multiple unserved OFAs exist, the system will request assignment to a specific process.
When a Release Order is issued on an OFA and the initiating process on the case is Unserved, the status of the OFA and initiating process (including initiating processes on all related cases) will automatically be set to Served and Process Tracking will be updated to reflect service information. NCAWARE will also generate message(s) to ACIS to update the initiating process(es) with service information and to remove the OFA Date(s).
When a 2nd or subsequent Release Order is issued on a process, the original (or preceding) Release Order (and Appearance Bond) status will become Inactive.

1. Either search for or add a Release Order that has a status of Complete (required data on CONDITIONS OF RELEASE and COURT INFO tabs entered).
2. From the RELEASE ORDER TAB VIEW, click on the SUMMARY tab.
3. The SUMMARY tab displays. Click the Edit Summary button.
4. The SUMMARY DETAIL screen displays. Enter required and relevant information. Fields marked with an * are always required, others are required in certain situations.

Once completed, click the Edit button.

Out-of-County Processes - Release Orders issued on out-of-county processes require no different steps but will function slightly differently. Click here for details.

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The Release Order SUMMARY tab returns displaying the edited Summary details. The following actions will have occurred due to the Release Order issuance:

The status of the Release Order is updated to Issued.
The status of the initiating process, and any related processes, is updated to Served (Orders and Citations are served upon issuance.)
If the Release Order is assigned to an Order For Arrest, then the OFA status is updated to Served.
The Process Tracking History of the initiating and related processes is updated with the Service Date, Serving Agency and Officer.
If the Release Condition from the CONDITIONS OF RELEASE tab is Unsecured, then an Appearance Bond is automatically created with the Defendant as the Bondsman and will print when the Release Order is printed. No manual entry of Appearance Bond data is necessary. Appearance Bonds for a Release Condition of Secured will have to be added manually.
If a Release Order is issued on a case that contains one or more additional Unserved OFAs, a screen will display warning that Unserved OFAs remain on the case. The OFAs will be listed, along with these steps to most easily serve them. Click the Continue button to return to the (now Served) case and begin serving the OFAs.
If a Release Order is issued on one or more cases that have an NCIC Entered date in Process Tracking, the following message will display: "Process Tracking histories for process(es), <file numbers>, show that they are marked as entered in NCIC. Please ensure the processes are now removed from NCIC and marked accordingly in Process Tracking."

For a listing of associated rules for this topic, click here.