Douglas County Courts will complete their move into the teleconferencing age by the end of the year, District Court Chief Judge Robert Fairchild said.

The court plans to install Polycom high-definition teleconferencing systems in the three courtrooms that don’t already have them, Fairchild said. Three of the six courtrooms have teleconferencing systems.

Teleconferencing can be used for many court proceedings, including for testimony from witnesses who cannot make it to Douglas County to appear in person and for court appearances from other locations, such as the jail.

Fairchild said the technology allows the court to connect easily with involved parties all over the country.

“All you have to have to use it is the IP address of the other computer,” Fairchild said. “The technology is available in most courts, schools and libraries.”

Teleconferencing saves dollars and time, Fairchild and Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Steve Lewis said. Valuable deputy time once used driving inmates from the jail to court and back for first appearances was costly. Now all first appearances are done by teleconference.

“They can just march in front of the camera and appear in front of the judge and attorneys,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the first system was placed in the Pro Tem courtroom about a year after the Douglas County Jail was built in 1999, after observing that similar systems made other jurisdictions’ justice systems work smoothly.

About a week ago, Fairchild said he presided over a civil personal injury case in which two orthopedic surgeons testified from Kansas City over the teleconferencing system.

“The screen was right behind the witness stand in high definition, just like they were right there in person,” Fairchild said.

Having the teleconferencing system let the surgeons testify without having to take more than 30 minutes from their work, Fairchild said. If they had taken a day off from work, their daily pay would have had to be reimbursed, Fairchild said.

If the defendant in a criminal case wants a witness to testify in person, he has the option, Fairchild said.

“In a trial, the court cannot force a defendant to accept video conferencing because they have a right to confront witnesses,” Fairchild said.

The teleconferencing system is especially helpful when dealing with “care and treatment” hearings to determine whether a person should be committed to a psychiatric hospital, Fairchild said.

Douglas County has the highest number of care and treatment cases in the state, Fairchild said, and before teleconferencing, each patient had to be brought to court from the state hospital in Osawatomie and taken back.

“That can be a risky business. It was a logistical nightmare” Fairchild said. “It’s not good for the patient to leave treatment, depending on the circumstance.”