Case Participant and Calendar Event Security

Due to PACFile system security, the results appearing in any Case Participant or Calendar Event search are dependent on three things: (1) the secure nature of the case (2) the searcher’s relationship to the case (3) the ability of PACFile to systematically verify the searcher’s identity.

Public vs. Secure Cases

Most cases are classified as either public or secure. Public cases have no security restrictions that prohibit their corresponding details from appearing in search results. Most cases fall under this category.

Secure cases, conversely, have restrictions that limit them from appearing in search results. For example, when a person is a participant on a secure case, regardless of their role, any search for that participant’s name will not display that case in the search results unless the searcher has a direct relationship with the case and their identity can be verified on PACFile. Juvenile and Dependency cases fall into this category.

 

 

Direct Relationships & Secure Cases

Systematically speaking, a direct relationship exists for a participant or attorney when they are actively participating on a case and their identity can be verified through PACFile. When a participant or attorney meets these criteria, their PACFile proxies automatically inherit this direct relationship status. Any PACFile user not meeting both of these criteria, and is not a proxy for someone who does, will be unable to access secure case information without special authorization from the court.

 

 

Verifiable Identity

The ability for PACFile to verify the identity of the searcher, and potentially their relationship to a case, is based on the specific details associated to that person’s UJS Web Portal account. PACFile has three ways to confirm the identity of a searcher:

• Attorneys/Police Officers/Allegheny County Juvenile Probation Officers – The identities of these PACFile users are established at the time their UJS Web Portal accounts are created through the submission of secure information that is verified by state agency records or by the AOPC. Individuals proxying for an attorney, police officer, or juvenile probation officer inherit the corresponding privileges under their own portal accounts.

• Proxy for an Organization – Organizations that take active roles on court cases can be created systematically in PACFile. Examples include state agencies, Offices of Children and Youth, KidsVoice, and Juvenile Probation offices. The systematic representations of these organizations are requested through, created, and duly authenticated by the AOPC. An individual within the organization is then appointed as an administrator, referred to as an Access Management User (AMU), who is empowered to assign organizational proxy rights to other PACFile users (presumably employees of the organization). When this happens, this relationship verifies the identity of the proxy as a member of the organization with all the privileges delegated by the AMU.

• Access Code Recipient – Any person whose identity cannot be verified using one of the methods above can only access secure cases when given special permission by the court. The court, at its discretion, can send a PACFile user a case-specific access code that can be entered through the Manage Case Access Codes grid of the My Profile screen, which grants access to that case only. Access code recipients might include, but are not limited to, the children or parents participating on a Common Pleas Court Juvenile or Dependency case. Due to this special authorization from the court, it is not essential for the recipient to have a direct relationship to the case.