Jan 14, 2019 3 min read

Fayette County’s district attorney has introduced technologies into the courthouse to make the county court system run smoother and more efficiently.

District Attorney Rich Bower said one thing he discussed while running for office was making the courthouse more streamlined, which was something that could be done with computers, televisions, cameras and computer programs.

“I wanted to use the technology that already existed to help in handling cases,” Bower said, adding that he used technology to help better run his private practice and wanted to do the same for his new office of district attorney when he assumed the post in 2016.

Bower didn’t waste time as he approached President Judge John Wagner Jr. about setting up televisions in the county’s five courtrooms rather than relying on a decade-old television on a cart wheeled from courtroom to courtroom so jurors could watch video evidence.

Bower said Wagner and the other judges were extremely responsive and were cooperative through the process of getting the televisions in the courtrooms.

“Judge Wagner and I have a very good working relationship,” Bower said, adding there was no hesitation on Wagner’s part to have the upgrade. Bower ordered and paid for wall-mounted televisions in two of the courtrooms. He obtained grants for three additional televisions that are mobile units where a flat-screen television comes out of a cabinet.

“We can now show video and photos on a screen 50 to 60 inches and in high definition and in 4K,” Bower said, adding there have been no adverse comments from anyone involved in the court system. “It makes it far easier to present evidence to the jury.”

Following the televisions were Polycom cameras that can connect with prisons so a defendant can be virtually present in the courtroom from miles away during a hearing.

Along with the courtrooms, Bower said he upgraded the district attorney’s office with televisions in all the rooms and laptops for the staff and the assistant district attorneys, giving them the freedom to prepare and print motions and other filings from home. The office previously had just one computer for all of the staff to share.

Bower said he also replaced a scheduling board in the office with a scheduling program that staff and the assistant district attorneys can view, add to or update even if they’re out of the office.

“Productivity went up immensely,” Bower said, adding that the computers were upgraded to interact with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), allowing greater ease to interact with magisterial district courts, clerk of courts, judges and other court offices.

Bower said what is now done automatically on a computer or a device, such as creating pretrial lists and arraignment lists, used to be done manually.

“Technology can get more accomplished,” Bower said.

While a lot has been accomplished with the new technology in the courthouse, Bower said it’s still a work in progress to get everyone involved in the courts synched to the system, but once that’s done, Bower said the Fayette County courts will be on par with the technology that’s available.