London Regional ICT Champion

After laying low for 2 weeks, the Champ blog is back again – this time after 11 days jury service at Southwark Crown Court.

Our court summons said that most jurors find their service to be a “rewarding experience” – our experience was one of continual frustration and after an unofficial health-check we left recommending that HMCS hire a circuit rider to sort out their IT issues.

• Open an Internet cafe with free wireless Internet access to fill the hours of hanging around
• Internet cafe computers could be refurbished with an open source OS and installed by circuit riders on probation or day release
• replace the antiquated VHS video system with a dedicated media server able to stream video clips direct to court rooms
• install 12″ tv monitors into the jury’s benches, similar to the monitors found in the back of airline seats, as not all of us can focus on a tv screen 20 yards across the courtroom.
• live blogging of trials

Here’s how we reached our conclusions….

The first thing that struck the Champ blog about Southwark Crown Court is that the building entrance bears an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s jaw, especially in The Terminator series. Obvious, isn’t it?

After running a gauntlet of defendents standing around outside to have a last smoke, things didn’t get much better inside – the coffee was undrinkable and the restaurant was beset by furry four legged visitors on at least one occasion.

On the upside, there was Internet access via BT Openzone, but the heinous fees of £6 (£12 USD) for one hour were enough to put off even the most determined laptop warrior. And there was us jurors thinking that that Internet access ought to be free since we were rendering a public service at no charge to the taxpayer. For those without the luxury of laptops there was a solitary PC of Windows 2000 vintage parked in the corner by the toilets.

Some 4 hours after arriving, we were eventually called up to the courtroom and with no preamble were presented with the prosecution’s key evidence – a video tape. Predictably, the tape was in the wrong place and the machine didn’t have a tape counter. After a break for lunch – with the tape now in the right place – the video player broke down and couldn’t be coaxed back into life.

The next day followed a similar wipe-out – hours of sitting around and getting a caffeine headache whilst HMCS wrestled with the video player. This raised an interesting question of legacy technology – does any serious electronics retailer apart from Amazon or eBay still sell VHS players? A lunchtime trip to Richer Sounds, just a 5 minute walk from the court, seemed to suggest the answer was no.

By day 3, the video player was now working and we got to view the key evidence on a 30″ inch flat screen panel at an eye-popping range of 20 yards – we kid you not. The next day, things improved again and we were upgraded to a bigger courtroom with a DVD player and a big screen closer to the jury. We were also treated to Powerpoint presentations from the expert witnesses – and there was the innevitable delay whilst one expert witness had to fetch their backup copy because the original had been lost.

Has anyone else out there been on jury service and do our experiences echo your own? Or are you interested in circuit riding and would like to help HMCS sort their IT?