The time taken to process cases ranges from 7 to 10 days versus 90 days in the district court. The cost for cases diverted from the formal court system is $13.41. The program's main goal is to assist the operation of the district court in processing a large number of potential cases while providing more personalized services to those persons wishing to use the court. Thus, the program provides two distinct functions: (1) intake, interviewing, and screening of citizen complaints and (2) mediation, an attempt at conflict resolution. Cases are channeled into mediation from individuals selecting mediation after discussion with an intake officer, referrals from individual judges, and referral from the bench in the warrant court. For the program's first 30 months, the staff averaged 3.5 interviews each hour (the intake desk was open 102 hours each week). If the cases later diverted by judges are included, 56 percent of all complainants were diverted from the formal system. Of the 15,578 cases scheduled for hearings during this 30-month period, 53 percent (8,360) were actually held. A total of 74 percent of these were resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Study data, diagrams, and footnotes are included.