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Medford court moves toward video arraignment By JIM DAVIS Medford Municipal Court soon will get its own version of "Court TV." The city will install video cameras at the court and in Jackson County Jail to conduct arraignments, possibly as soon as July, said Medford police Deputy Chief Ron Norris. "My primary concern was safety issues," Norris said. "But it also frees up officers who are being tied up from 45 minutes to two hours, taking those officers off the street." An arraignment is the initial court appearance, a brief hearing at which an accused person formally hears what he or she is charged with. Video arraignments will allow a person who is accused of a crime and locked up to participate in the arraignment from a secure room at the jail, rather than being taken from the jail to the court at Medford City Hall. Municipal court handles arraignments for people charged with lesser crimes such as minor theft, illegal camping and disorderly conduct. One to a dozen inmates are brought from the jail to court each day, said court clerk Denise Bostwick. Up to three patrol officers are used to transport inmates to and from the jail and watch them while in court, Norris said. Prisoners wait in a holding cell in a corner of the courtroom until their arraignment. Norris said moving prisoners poses a security risk, noting that an inmate unscrewed the bolts to a door that led to a public hallway several years ago. When inmates are transferred back to the jail, each one is searched for possible contraband picked up along the way. The video system -- which will include a television and camera -- could cost up to $28,000. The money is coming from the department's personnel budget; extra money is available because the department ran at a shortage of officers during the budget year because of a number of retirements. Norris said contractors will put in fiber-optic cables for the video arraignments as they upgrade law enforcement's dispatch system in a couple of weeks. Jackson County Court Administrator Jim Adams said the state system is not using video arraignments because a tunnel between the Justice Building and the jail allows inmates to be moved safely. He said his courts are looking into adding video arraignments in the future, but the idea is in preliminary stages. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA