Virginia Supreme Court - Polycom

Government
Daily Use
• Probable cause hearings
• Administrative meetings
Solution
• Polycom ® VSX video
conferencing solutions
• Polycom MCG-100 bridge
Results and Benefits
• Reduced the need for travel
by law enforcement
personnel
• A vast conferencing network
now issues more than 820
warrants per day
• A single Virginia city reported
savings of US$1.2M using
video in one year alone
• Won Governor’s Technology
Award for Increased
Accessibility to Government
Polycom Video Communications
Provides Order in the Virginia Court
Virginia is one of a handful of states in the nation that employs judicial officers—
magistrates—to issue a warrant for every arrest that’s made. While this system
provides an additional source of checks and balances, and speeds the process for
the accused, it can also put a strain on law enforcement resources. Every sheriff’s
deputy and police officer must immediately transport any person arrested to the
magistrate’s location, which can be many miles away, and wait while the magistrate
determines whether probable cause exists for an arrest warrant to be issued.
This takes law enforcement officers off the streets and away from their jobs of
safeguarding the public.
Polycom Video Helps Virginia Supreme Court Ensure due Process,
Bolster Public Safety, and Save Money
Looking for a remedy to the situation, the Virginia Supreme Court Department of
Judicial Information Technology identified video conferencing as a possible solution.
“Video conferencing was an ideal way to cut down on travel time for our police
officers and sheriffs by allowing them remote access to magistrates. But we still
faced the issue of printing an original warrant with a signature at the remote
location,” explains, Bob Kelley, applications engineer for the Magistrate Team with
the Virginia Supreme Court. “We came up with the idea of using the data port on
a video conferencing system to accomplish that, but we needed help, so we went
to Polycom to see what they could do for us. Together we came up with a remote
print feature that lets a magistrate print a signed warrant at the officer’s remote
site. Polycom was absolutely great to work with. They helped us make sure the
feature worked flawlessly and, based on our requests, have continued to support
the feature in their new product releases, which is key to us as our video deployment
with remote print functionality continues to grow.”
A Custom Solution
Throughout Virginia, magistrate offices are increasingly located in regional jails
that serve many counties. Sharon Duncan, team leader with the Virginia Supreme
Court Department of Judicial Information Technology and her staff equipped those
jail facilities with video conferencing systems and also deployed the technology
at remote sites in surrounding counties. This has allowed police officers to go to
the closest remote site and connect over video with the magistrate on duty at the
regional jail who then holds a hearing to determine issues such as probable cause
and bail. If the determination is made for a process to be issued, the magistrate
will issue the process on his or her local PC and send the output through the
video connection to a printer located at the remote site, allowing the entire completed
original form, with the magistrate’s signature, to be printed by the arresting
officer or deputy.
In the city of Richmond, VA, the use of video conferencing has decreased the
overall time for officers to have a probable cause hearing from more than one
hour down to 20 minutes.
“The biggest benefit of holding probable cause
hearings over video is public safety...Bottom line:
an officer who is stuck on the road due to either
distance or traffic is not out patrolling the streets.”
Bob Kelley, Applications Engineer for the Magistrate Team, Virginia Supreme Court

The Virginia Supreme Court has deployed more than 300 Polycom
video conferencing solutions, 120 of which feature the remote
print functionality, and Duncan anticipates an increase in the
number of remote-print enabled systems moving forward.
A Matter of Public Safety
“The biggest benefit of holding probable cause hearings over video
is public safety,” says Kelley. “For example, in Virginia’s numerous
rural towns, there may only be one state trooper and one sheriff on
active duty overnight in a county. If one of those officers is required
to drive to a location two counties away and wait to see a magistrate
in person, the county is severely understaffed and vulnerable,
essentially having lost half of its law enforcement resources. Video
hearings also save time in urban settings where a 15-mile trip to
see a magistrate in person can take upwards of 40 minutes due
to traffic. Bottom line: an officer who is stuck on the road due to
either distance or traffic is not out patrolling the streets.”
Virginia law enforcement agencies have embraced the tech nology
solutions, with 300,000 of the state’s 1.1 million warrants issued
over video, an average of 820 per day. And the Supreme Court’s
Department of Judicial Information Technology was recently
honored at the Governor’s Technology Awards with the Increased
Accessibility to Government prize. The award recognizes use of
innovative technologies to improve citizen access to and service
from governmental entities of any type. The Supreme Court of
Virginia was recognized for its use of video conferencing to provide
real time access to magistrates, others in the legal system and
citizens.
Virginia Supreme Court Video Engineer Eric Turner cites the city of
Richmond as an example of the video deployment in action. “Richmond
faces all of the problems any urban center contends with,”
he explains, “but in addition, it’s on a major highway that runs from
Florida to Maine and sees serious drug traffic.”
The city deployed 13 Polycom video conferencing units and
estimates that in the first year alone it saved $1.2 million dollars in
deputy overtime. “Richmond reports that the video deployment paid
for itself in the space of about three months,” adds Turner.
The IT Perspective
The Virginia Supreme Court video network comprises Polycom video
conferencing solutions at more than 300 facilities throughout the
state. These systems include the company’s flagship VSX line,
which features Siren 14 audio and Polycom StereoSurround
to deliver the best audio and video performance in the industry.
Polycom’s MGC-100 bridge facilitates multipoint and mixed IP and
ISDN calls.
The remote print functionality of the Virginia Supreme Court
deployment is unique among court systems. Jail facilities where
magistrates are located have been equipped with Polycom video
conferencing systems, allowing police officers to connect with
a magistrate remotely over video for hearings. If the magistrate
needs to issue a process, it can be created locally on his or her PC
and the output sent to a printer located at the remote site, allowing
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the entire completed original form, with the magistrate’s signature,
to be printed by the officer or deputy.
Leveraging the Network
The Supreme Court of Virginia leverages its expansive video
network well beyond virtual probable cause hearings, and Kelley
reports that it is fully integrated into the judicial process, and with
the exception of criminal trials, video conferencing can be used
for a wide spectrum of judicial proceedings. On several occasions,
video conferencing has been used to try civil cases in which a
maximum-security defendant is violent, making transport to and
from a courtroom costly and dangerous. It can require up to three
police cars to transport one dangerous inmate - a lead car, a chase
car, and a vehicle with the defendant guarded by two officers.
“Once again, it comes down to public safety—the fewer times you
put a criminal in a position to escape, the better,” says Kelley.
Juvenile detention hearings are another example of the benefits
of the video deployment. A juvenile detention home can be located
half a state away from the Juvenile Domestic Relations Court where
hearings take place. Thanks to video, no physical transfer is required.
The Supreme Court justices also benefit from the availability of
video, holding meetings between the Chief Justice and the other
justices who all live in different areas of the state.
The Right Products
The Supreme Court IT staff has deployed Polycom video conferencing
solutions at more than 300 facilities throughout the state.
These systems include Polycom’s flagship VSX family of solutions
which offer the industry’s highest voice and video quality. For mixed
IP and ISDN and multipoint calls, the organization uses Polycom’s
MGC-100 bridge.
“We’ve been very impressed with the price/performance of the
VSX 7000,” says Turner. “It’s got the functionality the courts need,
and is cost effective so that a greater number of area courts are
able to adopt the technology.”
Keys to an Effective Judicial Video Network
For other court systems looking into leveraging the safety benefits
and time and cost savings a video conferencing network provides,
Kelley stresses consolidation and standardization.
“In 1998 some courts started using video, they were all deploying
different systems, on different networks,” he explains. “It was at
that point that we decided to spearhead the effort and take control
by developing one unified conferencing network that would allow
every site in the state to connect and communicate. This eliminated
a lot of headaches.”
Kelley also advises asking vendors for the technology solution you
need, and suggests that you might be happily surprised at how
willing they are to help, as he was. Finally, Kelley feels that learning
from others is invaluable and adds, “there is no reason to reinvent
the wheel, learn from others and save yourself time and money.”
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Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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