VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) -
It's being called an historic change, possibly the most significant shake up within the Vanderburgh Superior Court in 30 years.
The court is restructuring and one of the major reasons behind the change is the huge amount of cases tied to meth.
The Superior Court Judges started really thinking about this restructuring in January. They say it will help them better serve abused and neglected children, help parents in custody cases get answers more quickly, and hopefully keep some drug offenders from getting in more trouble down the road.
This is a historic change for Superior Court in Vanderburgh County, and it's a change that quite frankly is going to benefit everybody."
Brett Niemeier is one of seven Vanderburgh Superior Court Judges. He rules on things like child support and custody hearings and deals with situations where children have been abused or neglected.
He says the majority of his cases are drug related and meth is a popular choice.
"That has really exploded our numbers on kids who need supervision, proper supervision and the court's responsibility is to make sure those kids are living in safe environments," Niemeier said.
So beginning September 1, all of those paternity cases weighing down Judge Niemeier will now be spread among several judges, freeing him up to focus on those neglected children, as well as kids and teens who are breaking the law.
Meanwhile, Judge Wayne Trockman, who oversees the county's first in the state drug treatment court, will hear all class D felony drug and alcohol cases.
Chief Judge Mary Margaret Lloyd says the idea is to implement Judge Trockman's expertise in drug treatment at an earlier stage in the game before meth users become meth makers or dealers.
"The problems we have are not just cookie cutter, it's not the same problems. We're not just doing this because we want to spend a year talking about change and initiating change, we're doing it because we want to see progression and see positive change," Lloyd said.
The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office is also happy about this change for a few reasons.
They say one reason is that it will bring more consistency because they'll only be dealing with two judges on criminal cases.
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