HomeMy WebLinkAbout20071381.tiff .OF'Cgt
STATE OF COLORADO
m tsar o WELD COUNTY COMBINED COURTS
Roger A. Klein,Chief Judge
Karen L. Salaz,District Administrator
1876 Catherine L. Walker,Clerk of Court
May 1, 2007
Board of County Commissioners of Weld County
Dave Long, Chairman
915 Tenth Street
P. O. Box 758
Greeley CO 80632
Dear Commissioner Long,
We have been advised that in early 2008, Weld County will have a jail facility and the technology to
facilitate remote video advisements for defendants held in custody. Pat Persichino has indicated he
anticipates the new jail addition housing the proposed proceedings to be open in January or February.
The judges in the Weld County Combined Courts fully endorse and support the concept. We see the
three most significant benefits as being providing significantly enhanced public safety through
eliminating transportation issues, reducing the number of sheriffs office personnel necessary to
facilitate the process, and allowing more expeditious handling of these matters thus cutting
in-custody time.
The concept of video advisements is not new in Colorado. It appears the first use of it was more than
20 years ago in various locations throughout Colorado. Today fewer than six of the 22 judicial
districts are not utilizing video advisements.
Attached you will find the results of a questionnaire we distributed to the other 22 judicial districts to
both investigate the utilization of video advisements and identify problems other districts have
encountered. The results indicated that once the technology and appropriate procedures are
developed there are rarely any problems.
Please keep us apprised of your progress and keep us updated on the timeline so that we can
coordinate with all the necessary parties.
Thank you in advance.
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CC: Sheriff John Cooke — ° 52n
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CC: Ken Buck, District Attorney, Nineteenth Judicial District C c
CC: Kevin Strobel, Public Defender's Office, Nineteenth Judicial District Rl rn-I
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901 Ninth Avenue, Post Office Box 2038,Greeley,Colorado 80632-0138
Phone:(970)351-7300 x5500•Fax:(970)356-4356
http://www.courts.state.co.usidistrict/19th/19dist.htm us/d istrict/19th/19d ist.htm
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History of video advisements in Colorado Judicial Districts
First No response.
Second Primarily a county court function. Issues to address: lack of privacy for clients;
defendants did not like not getting out of jail for the day so would not sign the
consent.
Third Yes. Utilized for about five years. No complaints.
Fourth Yes. Utilized for at least more than 11 years. No complaints district administrator
is aware of.
Fifth Yes. Utilized for about six months in summit County and at least seven years in
Eagle County. No complaints.
Sixth Yes. Utilized for years with no known complaints.
Seventh Yes. Utilized for nearly two years. Security and expediency issues outweigh any
complaints that have been voiced.
Eighth Yes. Utilized for at least 20 years. No complaints.
Ninth Not yet, however it is being discussed.
Tenth Yes. Utilized for four years. No known complaints.
Eleventh No response.
Twelfth Yes. Utilized for more than 20 years with no known complaints.
Thirteenth No response.
Fourteenth No response.
Fifteenth Yes. Utilized for more than years. Discussions are ongoing.
Sixteenth Yes. Utilized for more than one year. Working on adding detention hearings; have
had some DOC hearings and inmate advisements and they are working on a
protocol to set up DOC hearings. Discussions are ongoing.
Seventeenth Yes. Utilized for"years". No problems reported.
Eighteenth Yes. Utilized for many years. Concerns expressed initially only.
Nineteenth Not yet, is being discussed.
Twentieth No.
Twenty-First Yes. Utilized for about 15 years. No complaints.
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