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Manually refreshing a county roster to check whether a specific person has been booked or released is time-consuming and easy to miss. Smart Alerts automate that monitoring for you — you define the names you care about, and DocketStream watches every covered county on your behalf, notifying you the moment a matching booking, release, or bond change is detected. Whether you’re a bail bondsman, attorney, journalist, or concerned family member, Smart Alerts keep you informed without keeping you glued to a screen.

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How Watchers Work

A watcher is a saved name-based monitor. When you create a watcher, DocketStream continuously scans all covered Georgia counties (and North Carolina facilities) for roster events that match the name you provided. The moment a match is detected during a roster refresh cycle, DocketStream fires an instant notification to your configured delivery method. Watchers run silently in the background — you don’t need to have the DocketStream app open to receive alerts.

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Creating a Watcher

1

Open the Alerts Dashboard

Click Alerts in the top navigation bar to open your Smart Alerts dashboard.
2

Click New Watcher

Select New Watcher in the upper-right corner of the Alerts dashboard.
3

Enter the Name to Monitor

Type the full legal name of the individual you want to watch. See the tip below for guidance on name formatting.
4

Select a Notification Method

Choose Email as your notification delivery method and confirm the address you want alerts sent to. Additional notification channels may be available depending on your plan.
5

Save the Watcher

Click Save. Your new watcher is immediately active and begins monitoring on the next roster refresh cycle.

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Watcher Limits by Plan

Starter — $29/mo

Create up to 5 active watchers. Ideal for individuals monitoring a small set of names across covered counties.

Professional — $79/mo

Create unlimited watchers with no cap. Includes CSV exports of alert history. Designed for high-volume monitoring workflows.
Enterprise plan customers receive API and webhook access for programmatic alert delivery. Contact support@docketstream.org to discuss Enterprise pricing.

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Notification Events

Each watcher monitors for three distinct event types:
Triggered when a new booking record appears on a county roster that matches your watcher’s name. The notification includes the county, booking date, charge(s), and bond amount if set.
Triggered when a roster record matching your watcher transitions to a Released status. The notification includes the county and the time of the status change.
Triggered when the bond amount on an active booking matching your watcher is modified — either increased, decreased, or set for the first time after the initial booking.

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Managing Your Watchers

From the Alerts dashboard you can take the following actions on any existing watcher: Your alert history — a log of all past notifications fired by each watcher — is available in the Alert History tab of the Alerts dashboard. Professional plan subscribers can export this history as a CSV file.

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Tips for Best Results

Use the individual’s full legal name exactly as it appears on official records. Nicknames or abbreviations may reduce match accuracy. If you’re unsure of the exact name spelling, run a quick search in the Roster or Courts tab first to confirm the name as it appears in DocketStream’s dataset.
If you need to monitor more than five individuals regularly, upgrade to the Professional plan for unlimited watchers. The Professional plan also unlocks CSV exports, making it easy to incorporate alert history into external reporting workflows.
Smart Alert notifications are sent as soon as DocketStream detects a match during a roster refresh. Because rosters refresh every 30–60 minutes, there may be a delay of up to one refresh cycle between a real-world booking event and your notification. For time-critical situations, use the Sync Now button on the relevant county’s roster panel to trigger an immediate data pull.