Connecticut Courts to Allow Cameraphones into Courtrooms

Published on: 2nd August 2008

Courts in Connecticut have lifted a ban on camera phones within the courtrooms, overturning a ban which has been in place for a couple of years. The ban was imposed as part of a routine ban on cameras within the courtrooms and camera-phones were caught within the ban.

Chief Court Administrator Barbara M. Quinn approved the guidelines in response to a vote of the state's Superior Court judges at their annual meeting last month that cleared the way for the change.

"Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers and I believe the new rules will help the public greatly, particularly since finding a cell phone without a camera these days is extremely difficult," Judge Quinn said. "As important, we hope that allowing people to bring in their camera phones will shorten the lines at the metal detector."

Previously, judicial marshals had to bag and tag camera phones brought into the courthouses. "This was very time-consuming," Judge Quinn added, "especially when you consider that the marshals bagged and tagged 290,000 camera phones last year."

It will still be forbidden to use the cameraphone to take photos in the courtroom.

 

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