Southern Illinois county implements videoconferencing in courtrooms
With new technologies come better opportunities, as videoconferencing becomes more widely available for not only major business conferences and tiny cameras in consumer laptops but also in the court of law. In fact, according to the WJBD Radio in Southern Illinois, Marion County has announced that it will begin implementing the use of videoconferencing services in its courtrooms as a means to increase efficiency and bring down expenses.
"We want this in as quick as possible. The video conferencing is going to save us manpower because it's dollars," Terry Johnston, board chair, told the source. "It's also a safety issue bringing the prisoners from the jail to the courthouse so we will have a conference camera set up in the law library, one in the small courtroom to do it … As far as the security cameras go, this is something we've been working on for two years and I just feel really strongly in this day and age that we need to bale to make sure that office holders, employees and general public that comes into this place can feel safe and secure."
According to the source, the videoconferencing equipment is going to be funded through the $18,000 raised by selling old squad cars and county vehicles along with additional savings already set aside for the project.
By implementing the videoconferencing equipment into its courtrooms and procedures, Marion County lawyers and judges will be able to more efficiently communicate with convicts and those that are unable to make it to the events in-person due to other reasons. This will allow the county to save on many operational costs such as transportation and manpower.
For other counties and courts in the Midwest that want to use the efficiency this technology allows, partnering with Wisconsin court reporters that offer videoconferencing services for anything from depositions and hearings to job interviews can provide the offerings they are looking for.
