Magistrates use Skype to improve efficiency, reduce travel costs

Some Iowa court magistrates in the 6th and 3rd judicial districts have found a way to be more efficient, with just a little innovation, and no cost to the judicial coffers.

Magistrate Anders Norgaard had to drive 32 miles from his home in Belle Plaine to the Benton County Courthouse two to three times a week to conduct initial appearances, wearing out a car over the years, and he couldn't even collect mileage if it was within his county.

Now, he can be at relatives in Chicago or his law office in Belle Plaine, open his laptop and conduct the hearing on Skype.

Magistrate Mark Laddusaw of Algona, no longer has to drive to four jails to conduct initial appearances, as in the past on weekends, within the 3rd Judicial District in northwest Iowa. He also uses Skype to conduct hearings with defendants who are in the jails.

Being a magistrate is a part-time position and many of them also are attorneys with law firms or have solo practices, so the chief district judges in the two districts and state court officials supported their practical, efficient technology solution to get their job done. Magistrate, like judges, never know when an arrest might be made and an initial appearance is require within 24 hours. The magistrates usually have a regular day to be in court but other times they usually are called upon whenever needed.

Norgaard started using Skype after the 2008 flood in Vinton when it wiped out the Benton County Jail's closed circuit video equipment and link to the courthouse. He talked to Sheriff Randy Forsyth about using a county computer to install Skype on his end for the defendants from the jail and then Norgaard, with district court approval, decided to use his personal laptop for the Skype sessions.

Laddusaw and others in the third district have been using Skype for about three years. He said it was a way to serve the defendants faster and of course, cut down on drive time. He was in a weekend rotation with associate district judges and they had to cover four counties, so it wasn't unusual to drive to four different jails to conduct hearings.

'It's saving the state money because of less mileage (claimed) and there was only the cost of a computer camera,” Laddusaw said. 'I use my (law) office computer for Skype.”

Laddusaw pointed out that it also reduces security issues because the county authorities don't have transport defendants to the courthouse for the hearings.

'We were all encouraged (in the 3rd district) to use Skype for these hearings,” Laddusaw said.

Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Patrick Grady said court administration is always looking for ways to improve security and as technology improves, he's open to more experimenting. Currently judicial computers aren't used because of security risks.

'We do a lot more telephone conferences and depositions are conducted remotely,” Grady said. 'This is especially helpful in the rural areas. Now that magistrates are appointed to adjoining counties, this cuts down on travel costs (to the state).”

Grady said the advantage of Skype, as opposed to a telephone conference, is that a defendant can see the judge, and that sometimes helps communication. He also pointed out the Electronic Data Management System or EDMS going online across the state will just aid efficiency of using technology like Skype. The magistrates can access files online at any time of the day with the paperless system.

Third Judicial District Chief Judge Duane Hoffmeyer said he also encourages the use of Skype and telephone conferencing to help these magistrates and judges in the rural areas be more efficient and alleviate costs. He said this wouldn't have worked without the support of the county sheriffs, who were willing to provide equipment at the jails.

Steve Davis, Iowa Judicial Branch communications officer, said the court system plans to expand the use of teleconferencing and other forms of technology in accordance with the recommendations of the Civil Justice Reform Task Force report, which studied ways to make courts more efficient. But there's no timeline for implementation of the recommendations, he said.

'Court administration will authorize Skype for a one time use by a judge or magistrate for a specific trial if requested,” Davis added. 'The IT department will load the software in the judge's computer and then remove after (trial).

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@sourcemedia.net