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Bill Santucci Justice Center

When the scales of justice in Placer County needed a new place to be weighed, officials called upon Snader & Associates to help integrate the necessary technology into 17 rooms in the new $42 million Placer County Superior Court building. The project included a High Profile courtroom, 7 standard courtrooms, a traffic courtroom, 2 jury deliberation rooms and a jury assembly area, a judges’ library, an administrative conference room, a human resources training room, a facilitators’ conference room, and a head end/video conference room.
The High Profile and 7 standard courtrooms are similar in their equipment configurations with the notable difference that the High Profile courtroom also has a broadcast production video system and a video/audio feed for an outside press feed.

The typical A/V presentation system in each courtroom has equipment for the presentation of electronic evidence with the use of computer generated graphics, pre-recorded video tape digital video disk, transparency documents, printed text or hard copy graphics and the allowance for future video conference and video arraignment. The video sources were displayed on two 65” and two 40” displays on portable carts. The system also features the capability for the judicial officer to review for propriety evidence being electronically presented before release to the other displays.

Eight wired desktop microphones, one auxiliary stand mounted microphone and two UHF wireless systems are set up for each courtroom. Reinforced speech and playback audio are reproduced by overhead-distributed speakers. The audio system also provides an output for a digital infrared-based multi-channel assistive listening systems that allow for both English and other language translation. Moreover, the audio systems were programmed for “white noise” insertion during the judge’s sidebar events, and the judge is able to mute any or all microphones and adjust the volume of the speakers by 6db from the bench.

The user control system consists of a 15” touch screen located on the judge’s bench and a smaller touch screen located on the Courtroom Clerk’s desk. The entire control system could be monitored via IT by the Placer County Courts’ IT staff.

In Placer County, justice may be still be ‘blind’ — but her administrators can see, hear and speak more clearly than ever!