About New Jersey's Promise/Gavel System - Beware of Shortcomings

Originally developed for county prosecutors, the Promis/Gavel is an automated criminal case tracking system that provides the function of docketing, indexing, noticing, calendaring, statistical reporting, and case management reporting, etc. Promis/Gavel is interactive with the courts as well as with the NJSP. But rules do not allow the public to access the complete Promis/Gavel system—only a filtered Promis/Gavel Public Access (PGPA) system is available to the public on the public access terminals in the courts. Also, the PGPA does not include contain offenses or petty offenses recorded in 530+ municipal courts, unless they are filed with indictables. The more serious of these petty offenses include drug offenses, violence, theft, sexual assault, and pedophilia. An AOC press release about the PGPA states, “The court records obtained from Promis/Gavel do not constitute a criminal history records check, which must be obtained through law enforcement.” 

However, because of the simplicity of access and cost, the PGPA is the system of choice for many pre-employment screening companies.

A quick "did you know" about NJ - Cape May County offices are located in the City of “Cape May Court House,” and not in the City  of “Cape May.”

© excerpt from Business Background Investigations book.