Public Employee Press

Court local fights electronic recorders
Union says machine errors threaten people's right to fair trial

By DIANE S. WILLAIMS

Union efforts to protect members' jobs and citizens' right to fair trials gained strength June 19 as the New York State Senate passed a bill banning the use of electronic voice recorders to replace Official Court Reporters in the state judicial system.

The proposed law was introduced in the Senate by Finance Committee Chair John A. DeFrancisco and in the Assembly by Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein. Weinstein is an attorney who worked at DC 37's Municipal Employees Legal Services and can attest to the problems associated with the recording machines.

The Senate bill takes a strong position against using the devices in the courtroom.

"The continued and expanding use of recording devices threatens to undermine civil service workers and jeopardize hundreds of legal proceedings in state courthouses in New York City," said Local 1070 President Cliff Koppelman.

Protecting court records

"The preservation and quality of the record is vital to due process under the law and to legal appeals," said Vice President Fausto Sabatino. "It's misguided to sacrifice the public's right to save money."

"The union is making headway with legislators to protect the interests of the general public and the employees by combating the expansion of the use of recording devices in the courts," said Chris Wilgenkamp, assistant director of DC 37's White Collar Division.

Local 1070 has led an ongoing battle against using recorders at family, criminal and civil courts citywide to protect the official court records of proceedings and hearings. The local's Court Reporter Committee worked on the union's legislative proposal with Political Director Wanda Williams, Legislative Analyst Sybil McPherson and Wilgenkamp.

"Building momentum for this legislation has been a real team effort," said McPherson.

"The Office of Court Administration will use Reporters when it's a high profile case, but in the hundreds of cases that come through our doors daily, they use voice recorders and temporary agency workers to transcribe court proceedings," said Court Reporter Chapter Vice Chair Diane Taylor, a 26-year veteran at the Bronx Family Court.

Mistakes that result from the combination of recording devices and temporary clerk typists include poorly transcribed records, spelling errors, unrecorded testimonies from malfunctioning machines and uncertified official transcripts.

A pilot program for voice recorders was supposed to end in 2008, but OCA kept the faulty machines in use and "continues to contract out typing to agencies that use anyone off the street, not trained and tested civil service Official Court Reporters," said Court Reporter Chapter Chair Nancy Silberger, who works at Queens Criminal Court.

While attrition has reduced the number of OCRs to just 156 citywide, OCA has failed to hire from the available civil service lists of qualified and eligible Court Reporters.

In Bronx Family Court, where only six OCRs are left on staff, "Errors in official court records can lead to mistrials, convictions of the wrong person and children being taken from their families because of delinquency or neglect," said Taylor.

In contrast, human Court Reporters have ways to ensure accuracy, she explained.

"We can ask for testimony to be repeated, for correct spellings," she said. "Because we are aware, we can slow down a speaker to get the record right."

A matter of justice

Supporting the union's position are several judges and trial attorneys who know firsthand the costs of reconstructing testimony after poor recording and transcription.
"We expect the legislation to gain support as people come to understand that this is a matter of justice and protecting people's right to fair trials under the law," said Koppelman.

Although the bill was not passed by the Assembly, meetings with OCA have been scheduled in an effort to resolve the issue. If there is no progress, the bill will be back next session, said Koppelman.