New Court Video System Saves Navajo County Time And MoneyNovember 28th, 2007
By Tammy Gray-Searles
Improvements in technology are helping the courts and law enforcement in Navajo County save money and provide better service to the public.
Thanks to a Fill the Gap grant from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, the county recently in-stalled a video conferencing system in the justice courts, the jail and two courtrooms in the superior court. The new system allows certain court hearings to be held without transporting prisoners, resulting in significant cost savings and increased security.
Inmates held at the jail can attend justice court initial appearances and arraignments through the video system, requiring them to be moved just a few feet from their cells, rather than many miles. The system operates in real-time, and allows all of the parties, including the judge, the defendant and the attorneys, to see and hear everyone involved.
The system has been in place for about three weeks now, and already the short-staffed courts and jail have been coming up with many ways to use it.
Court Administrator Marla Randall-Meyers explained that the Justice of the Peace from the Kayenta Justice Court has used the system to appear at a judges’ conference, saving her several hours of driving. The reduction in driving time not only saved the courts money, but also allowed the judge to remain at her court and hear cases, speeding up the court process for everyone.
Staff from the Winslow Justice Court have already made plans to use the system to attend mandatory training without leaving their court, also allowing cases to be heard on the day of training. The Superior Court can use the system to have court reporters keep a record on cases for which they cannot physically be present. For example, prior to the video system, if a regular court reporter called in sick, most of the hear-ings scheduled for that day would have to be rescheduled, creating a delay. With the new system, a substi-tute court reporter can appear from anywhere in the state to record the hearings so that cases can continue to move forward.
Speeding up case processing is precisely what was intended when the state awarded the Fill the Gap funds. Randall-Meyers noted that although the process is not in place yet, the video system can soon be used to allow defendants who enter a plea of guilty in certain justice court cases to be sentenced in the same hearing, shortening the time they spend in jail waiting for their case to be heard. Less time waiting in jail saves the county, and ultimately the taxpayers, money. Fewer calls to transport inmates to court also sig-nificantly reduces costs and increases security. The less inmates are moved around, the fewer opportunities they have to cause problems for detention officers or the public.
At this time, attorneys are not connected into the system, but the sheriff’s office has plans to eventually install a larger video system that would allow attorneys to appear and visit with clients through the system. It would also offer families who live long distances from the jail the opportunity to visit with inmates by video for a small fee. The system could also potentially be hooked up to a similar video system the county administration already uses to hold meetings and conferences.
Randall-Meyers noted that the video system now in use is just the beginning of what she expects to be-come a much bigger system.
“As the judges and attorneys use it more and more, it will evolve into a bigger project,” she predicted.
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