GRAND ISLAND — Three people from the Hall County Public Defender’s office told the Hall County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, Feb. 13, about the large amount of time it is taking to download video data from the criminal justice system, such as patrol car videos.
Dee Arnett, Public Defender office manager, said in 2022, the office handled 624 digital videos. That number increased to 998 videos in 2023. She has been the primary person handling the digital data transfers.
The Public Defender’s office representatives asked Commissioners if they could add a full-time position to their office to handle the digital transfers, which also includes paper documents.
Deputy Public Defender Vicky Kenney described another problem the office is experiencing with the data transfer. The process is taking up time by having one computer solely involved in the digital transfer. More computers are needed to help the office manage the situation.
Public Defender Jerry Piccolo said that Arnett likely would be the person who would take the digital transfer position. The situation needs to be addressed as soon as possible, he said.
Hall County Attorney Marty Klein said that a software called WatchGuard is being used for web-based access to video files. A URL can be accessed to show a video. He said that handling digital data is going to web-based management systems versus transfer to data on a computer.
Commissioners voted 7-0 to send the issue to a committee for discussion and suggested that the county’s information technology staff assist the public defender’s office with having enough computers to handle the volume of data they are encountering.
