Technology grants are crucial to keep Ohio courts stay open and safe during the pandemic.

Technology grants are crucial to keep Ohio courts stay open and safe during the pandemic.

Ohio courts “have a bigger responsibility” than other establishments to keep the public safe during the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said today.

“When retail operations and restaurants are opened up, these are places that people go by choice,” Chief Justice O’Connor said. “That’s not the same as the courts. People don’t go to court voluntarily. You are ordered to come to the court.”

“That’s why the courts have a bigger responsibility to make sure we are using technology and following the guidelines of the Department of Health,” she said. “When people do come into the court, they feel safe and have confidence in the system, and the judge they are interacting with.”

The chief justice spoke as a guest on the WOSU Radio program “All Sides with Ann Fisher,” where she outlined the Supreme Court’s grant program that allows courts to stay in session while abiding by social distancing measures.

In just the past two months, Chief Justice O’Connor has transferred more than $6 million from the Supreme Court budget to 277 local courts in 87 of the state’s 88 counties to help them purchase remote technology that allows virtual hearings and court sessions.

Purchases, listed in order from most dollars used to the least:

• Video conferencing equipment
• Video conferencing enabling services, such as Zoom and GoToMeeting
• Laptops
• Web cameras
• Software to enable remote access including e-filing, e-payment and probationer monitoring

The grants are designed to “give courts the capacity to ramp up their use of technology so they can be able to expand their services to the public,” Chief Justice O’Connor said.

“That was the intent of the grant program. Those dollars went to increasing the capacity so there’s an ability to provide services for individuals without face-to-face contact.”

Courts applied for grants ranging from $174,000 to a few thousand dollars.

Examples of new court flexibility abound. Among them:

• Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court purchased two mobile video conferencing carts to create a second virtual courtroom that can be moved throughout their building, providing social distances to parents, children, and attorneys.
• Clark County Juvenile Court purchased Zoom licenses, Web cameras, TVs, and laptops.
• Lorain County Juvenile Drug Court used grant-purchased equipment to hold its first virtual graduation for 20 family and friends.
• Allen County Probate Court held its first virtual adoption using Zoom and laptops.

The pandemic awards are in addition to the annual Ohio Courts Technology Initiative started six years ago by Chief Justice O’Connor and which has awarded more than $17 million in technology grants each January to pay for more than 800 projects.