The Tribune

BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A new digital court recording system has been installed and is now operational in both the Supreme and Magistrate Courts in Grand Bahama.

Ken Cook, consultant for the National Centre for State Courts, was in Freeport on Monday providing training to members of the judiciary, including magistrates. Stephana Saunders, Deputy Registrar Office of the Judiciary, was also present.

Mr Cook said the FTR system is very beneficial because it uses technology that can record voices from microphones. The recordings are stored on the computer’s hard drive in a digital format.

“This is the first phase,” he said. “The magistrate’s systems are up and running and we are here showing them how to use it. All systems are up and running.”

He stated that the judiciary will hopefully soon be able to transfer those digital recordings on the hard drive to cloud storage.

“The Bahamas is prone to natural phenomenon so all this information will be stored securely,” Mr Cook said.

In the magistrate courts, stenographers are not in the courtroom and the magistrates must write notes.

Another important aspect of the system, he said, is the speech to text feature. “It is very exciting to the judiciary because what will happen is that automatically this recorded information will be converted into a rough transcript,” Mr Cook explained.

He noted that members at the judiciary will soon be able to have online access through an authorized and secured URL.

“The idea is to expand it to include attorneys and other individuals, but those are the decisions that are being made right now,” he said.

Mr Cook said the FTR system allows the judiciary to share information more efficiently so matters can move through the justice system and cases can be heard quickly, resolved, and moved forward.

Having information available to create verbatim transcripts is necessary, he said, if it needs to go to the court of appeals or if something needs to be reviewed.

“Often magistrate’s court deliver summaries. There is a certain level of trust that is engendered when the people know this information is being captured verbatim. It does not matter who you are, what the case is. It is being captured electronically,” he said.

Mr Cook said the National Center for States Courts is an organization, in conjunction with the US government, to set up systems that promotes the increasing ability for places in the Caribbean to provide justice.

He indicated that it is important that technology is implemented in conjunction with the processes that work here in the Bahamas.

Mr Cook, a 25-year veteran of digital court recording systems, said he has been working on implementing this system at the judiciary since 2018/2019.