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The Troup County Court Services Department recently incorporated several major technology upgrades to several courtrooms at the Troup County Government Center, located at 100 Ridley Avenue.

These upgrades — meant to physically and virtually enhance the court’s legal proceedings — consist of large, secured viewing screens, wide-angle cameras, document cameras, monitors, and acoustic panels. Moving forward, Cisco Webex will now serve as the courtrooms’ preferred method of virtual interaction, as it provides secure and reliable means of communication.

“I’ve shown it to attorneys out of Columbus and Atlanta and they are all very impressed,” she said at a Troup County Board of Commissioners meeting in April.

Mobley previously said the equipment upgrades were deemed dire in the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic when inmate hearings and other court manners were forced to proceed remotely. The Troup County jail’s hearing room, she said, was particularly in need of new amenities.

“The acoustics were terrible,” Mobley said.

The new technology, provided through Liberty Technology, is now fully installed in the Government Center’s main courtrooms, the Magistrate Courtroom, and the Troup County jail’s hearing room. Training has already begun on the new equipment, whose interface is user-friendly and familiar when compared to the previous system. The enhancements were made possible through grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act in an effort to strengthen COVID-19 safety requirements. Court services was approved for a total quote of $320,328 the upgrades in Fall 2021.

According to a press release from the county, Troup County is the second county in the State of Georgia to equip courtrooms with these specific technological upgrades, preceded only by the State Court of Spalding County. These advancements offer Troup County courtrooms capabilities that are unavailable in most other courtrooms in the Georgia judicial circuit, including: secure courtroom proceeding recordings; presentation of paperless evidence; improved sound quality; and virtual attendance by judges, attorneys, inmates, and witnesses.

“The past two years have made it crucial to find alternative ways to conduct court proceedings,” Mobley added in a press release. “Liberty Technology has provided us the tools we need to make sure justice continues moving forward. Troup County is ahead of the curve, and our judges are handling cases at a very fast pace, despite COVID-related stumbling blocks. With this new technology, we can only expect to become more proficient in serving our citizens.”

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