Indico Systems involved in new project on video conferencing in Danish Courts.
This new project in the Danish Court, seeks to expand opportunities to use video communications in connection with extensions of pre trial detention.
The current rules in this area are so far that it is voluntary if the remand will participate in a video conference, which deals with extension of the remand, or whether the remand will appear in person in court.
The Danish Court Administration has in 2007 and 2008 conducted a pilot project on video conferencing. Against this backdrop, the administration of justice have delivered an opinion in which the Council concludes that in the light of the technological development and the experience gained from pilot experiments it is now safe to allow the use of video communication in a wider scale than the existing rules, including in connection with extensions of pre trial detention. The law has now been changed so the Judge can determine whether a prisoner must be personally present, or if a video conference will be sufficient.
Experience of the Court Administration pilot has shown that several detainees just did not want to consent to participate in the video conference, reason being the prisoner preferred a trip away from prison.
In the first instance there will be installed equipment by municipal courts, detention centre’s and police stations associated with the South Jutland police district, which will thus be able to use video communications in all types of cases, including extensions, with effect from legal force. Even the municipal courts and institutions in the context of previous experiments with video communication have already installed the necessary equipment and will be able to enroll in this new project as well.
Based on the experiences from the Audio recording Pilot project it has also been decided to install Indico Audio software in the courts.
Asger Plæhn, Sales Director at Indico Systems Denmark, comments: “I am looking forward to the many benefits a fully networked video conferencing solution can bring to the Danish Courts and am excited that Indico Systems has been chosen to deliver our secure recording solution to the Danish Court for this new and prestigious project”.
Pilot project is scheduled to begin 1. November 2009. It also appears from the Law that the provided video conferencing equipment could later be installed and used throughout the country. It will, among other things, be given from the experience in South Jutland police district.