Cellphone Numbers Provided on Criminal Misdemeanor Citations Now Automatically Enrolled into Court Date Text Reminders

Redwood City, Calif – The San Mateo County Superior Court has begun automatically enrolling cellphone numbers provided on criminal misdemeanor citations into Court Date Text Reminders in its efforts to reduce failure to appear rates.

The Judicial Council of California revised its TR-130 Notice to Appear citation form to include an optional field for signing parties to provide cellphone numbers. Automatically enrolling numbers shared in this new cellphone field into Court Date Text Reminders will encourage persons facing criminal misdemeanor violations to appear at important court hearings.

Individuals that do not include cellphone numbers on their citations or defendants with criminal felony charges that wish to sign-up for Court Date Text Reminders may enroll by completing an online form available on the Court’s website: sanmateo.courts.ca.gov/text-reminders. Court Date Text Reminders are currently offered for Criminal and Traffic cases, and the Court is exploring expanding the use of Court Date Text Reminders to other case types, including Family Law.

The Court would like to thank its law enforcement agency partners in San Mateo County for encouraging parties to provide cellphone numbers when signing citations. Increasing awareness and use of the cellphone field paired with Court Date Text Reminders will bolster the Court’s efforts to reduce failure to appear rates for criminal court proceedings.