TrendVideo arraignments saving time, money and improves safety for police, courts

A vidoe arraignment in progress in Californa // Source: fox5sandiego.com

Instead of street clothes or a jail jumpsuit, Dennis Burton wore a hospital gown. Instead of standing in a courtroom, he was in a hospital bed. For the first time, Eastpointe, Michigan police used portable video equipment, bought with a $16,000 grant, to have Burton arraigned from his Detroit hospital room last month.

The move saved police money, time and the judge, who saw and heard Burton via TV in the courtroom, and a court reporter a trip to the hospital. “Plug it in the wall, turn it on and hit the green dial button,” Eastpointe Cpl. Jason Gibson said.

Detroit Free Press’s Christina Hall writes that video arraignments via portable equipment at hospital bedsides may be a new idea, but it is among the growing trend of video arraignments and other proceedings from mental health facilities, local lockups, and county jails to save money and time, improve safety, and ensure suspects speedier justice.

The State Court Administrative Office, Michigan Department of Corrections and Michigan State Police are involved in a video conferencing project that is to expand from two to more than forty sites next year. Eventually, it is to go statewide, allowing video arraignments from jails, prisons and mental health facilities, said SCAO spokeswoman Marcia McBrien.

She did not know the cost for the project but said it is to come in large part by fees that local courts pay to SCAO. The average cost per court for equipment and setup is about $22,800.

“If the equipment is used two to three times a month, it will pay for itself within the year in terms of savings for law enforcement, compensation and so forth,” McBrien said.

Joe Sullivan, manger of Oakland County’s Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System, said every Oakland law enforcement agency, court, and the jail have video conferencing. The project started five years ago and has saved about $8 million.

Video arraignments are done from the Macomb County Jail to Romeo, New Baltimore, and Clinton Township district courts and with Oakland courts, Macomb Sheriff’s Capt. Brenda Baker said. She said officials are talking with Shelby Township district court about video arraignments. Dwayne Anderson, network systems manager for Detroit’s 36th District Court, said the court coordinates video arraignment with the Wayne County Jail and Detroit police and can tie in with the Michigan Department of Corrections. He said the system can communicate with agencies with computer-based video, such as Romulus, Trenton and Taylor, allowing suspects in those lockups to be arraigned on Detroit warrants without coming to Detroit.

MDOC spokesman Russ Marlan said each prison and parole/probation office has video conferencing equipment. It also is used by the parole board, which conducts 25,000 interviews a year.

Judge Michelle Rick, who presides in 29th Circuit Court in Clinton and Gratiot counties, is excited that video conferencing may be coming to her court after she saw eight or nine state prisoners in the jury box awaiting hearings. Each had two corrections officers.

Video technology “could really make a dent in terms of cost savings,” she said. “Another component I can’t overlook is public safety. Every time prisoners are transported, there is a public safety issue.”