HISTORIC COURTHOUSE GOES HIGH-TECH • CHAMBERSBURG, PA
Franklin County Courthouse completed a multi-phase renovation to their historic facilities in Chambersburg, PA. They called upon the expertise of Martin Gruen to design technology for the four refurbished courtrooms.
Gruen is Deputy Director for Courtroom 21 at Virginia's William and Mary Law School. The County's decision to use Martin Gruen's thirty years of experience was fortified by the mission of Courtroom 21, a state-of-the-art educational courtroom designed to prepare students for case presentation in a high-tech environment.
As with Courtroom 21, Franklin County sought to present multiple remote witnesses, display electronic evidence, and automate legal processes. Courtroom 21 increases community accessibility with language interpretation and ADA-approved assisted listening technologies. The County chose SAGE Technology Solutions to implement these devices at the Courthouse. Once contracted, SAGE worked closely with Martin Gruen to advance and optimize the project.
SAGE DELIVERS
Touchpanels control the entire A/V system with customized graphical user interface (GUI) screens. SAGE designed these panels to seamlessly integrate the A/V systems into the normal flow of court proceedings with minimal interruption.
All controls are designed to appear on one primary screen. When a video source is selected, controls for that source appear in the center window of this screen, allowing all functional controls to remain simultaneously visible. The judge's and clerk's panels pre-select destinations for video display, and they preview and queue the video before sending images out to the audience. Because SAGE built the GUI touchpanels with the operation of the court in mind, system users were successfully exploring all components of the A/V installation after only one training session.
GUI SCREEN FUNCTIONS
These screens allow for custom, single-touch controls, letting the judges and court clerks to:
- Provide the jury with required information, the gallery with permitted information, and the legal teams with additional corresponding media through displays, speakers and multi-zone sound delivery.
- Originate videoconferencing sessions for remote witnesses and experts.
- Activate the evidence podium, witness stand, council and jury box LCD screens for evidence display.
- Initiate annotation functions on the evidence podium and witness stand touchscreen LCD panels.
- Mute, with one button, all audio and video evidence displays in emergencies.
- Provide sidebar-conversation sound-masking to the gallery and the jury.
- Ensure complete accuracy for court reporters' headsets, even during private sidebar conversations.
- Control video playback of evidence and information from a variety of pre-recorded sources.
- Automate audio mixing for appropriate sound pressure levels.
- Switch and control program audio for A/V sources including video teleconferencing, DVD/VCR players and auxiliary audio and microphone inputs.
- Power on and off all systems and audio/visual tools.
CUTTING-EDGE COURTROOM A/V TECHNOLOGY
Courtroom #4 at the Franklin County Courthouse possesses some of the most advanced presentation systems in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These devices are designed to enhance the evidence presentation during court proceedings without hindering their flow.
SAGE seeks to advance the area's technological baseline, referring to its innovations as "reaching the PlayStation™ Generation." Though typically used in reference to SAGE's educational projects, they also apply their ideal to courthouse clients. Today's jury pool is comprised of people who grew up watching On-Demand television and playing video games, and these jurors are increasingly more capable of comprehending visually-delivered evidence.
Evidence presentation is critical to court proceedings. It is imperative that jury members are able to examine electronic evidence as closely as possible. The LCD panels in the jury boxes are specifically configured to allow for the best possible viewing. All electronic evidence displays are controlled entirely by the judge. In turn, he can entrust A/V system control to the court clerk, allowing himself to devote his undivided attention to the proceedings.
EQUIPMENT HIGHLIGHTS
- Crestron touchscreen control with graphical user interface (GUI)
- Sidebar sound masking feature
- 8x LCD monitors in jury box
- Witness stand plasma display
- Touchscreen annotation monitors at evidence podium and witness stand
- Computer, document camera, DVD and VCR display capabilities
- Tandberg audio/videoconferencing with echo cancellation
- Biamp DaVinci web-based audio control software
- Sennheiser ADA-approved assisted listening systems
SOLUTIONS PROVIDED BY SAGE
At the installation's end, Mr. Gruen commended SAGE, saying, "In my career designing courtrooms, I've worked with many systems integrators, some with hundreds of federal courthouses under their belts, that didn't perform as well as your guys."
The implementation of the Tandberg videoconferencing system allows counsel to place remote witnesses on the stand, maintaining continuity without the expense and inconvenience of bringing them into the courtroom. The plasma screen strategically located above the witness chair brings the remote witness into the proceedings as though they were in the room.
The Sennheiser assisted listening system allows for ADA compliance and makes the proceedings accessible to hearing-impaired participants. The system is infrared, confining the audio signal to the room from which it originates. This maintains the proceedings' confidentiality by preventing the signal from penetrating the walls of the courtroom.
RELATED PAGES:
Franklin County Courthouse Installation Photo Gallery
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