THE CHALLENGE
With courtroom and hearing room technology playing an ever-increasing role in the justice system, it became critical for Benton County to implement advanced solutions in their court spaces, as they had lacked contemporary AV capabilities.
THE SOLUTION
Benton County collaborated with Convergent Technologies Design Group (CTDG) to implement advanced, feature-rich Crestron solutions across all Superior Court and District Court rooms. The technologies needed to align with the sophisticated courtroom culture led by Benton County’s judges and staff. CTDG also collaborated with Mier Architecture & Engineering on design, and both teams worked together seamlessly to reimagine the courtroom spaces.
THE TECHNOLOGY
With an abundance of sources and strict requirements for what the courtrooms can route, CTDG explored various streaming technologies and selected Crestron DM NVX® AV-over-IP technology to distribute flawless, high-resolution video content safely and securely across the network. DM NVX encoders connected to a county local area network (LAN) were implemented to allow users to connect their own device easily and instantly to start presenting.
DM NVX helps the court present evidence in an advanced way while also adhering to one of the courts’ most important elements, content preview. Before anyone sees a source, the judge must approve it. If there's any kind of issue with content being shown before it is used, it could cause a mistrial or several legal issues. Crestron provides the Judge with the capability to easily select up to five different ways to share evidence across the eight different courtroom displays. DM NVX delivers absolute connectivity with no loss of display quality, which is critical when presenting.
In addition, Crestron technology enables the jurors and public to participate in trials from different rooms to adhere to social distancing measures. “If the court wanted to have one of the other rooms function as an overflow room, they can easily bring that signal in elsewhere,” explains Holaday.
A Crestron Control System serves as the heart of control for the hearing rooms and courtrooms, providing simplified management of all the disparate technologies throughout the facility to make life easier, greener, and more productive.
Crestron touch screens provide a control interface for the various courtroom and hearing room technologies, such as source selection and adjusting audio levels so that users can manage of all the different open mics for attorneys, the jury, and the gallery. The court needed to be able to switch the monitors off during private conversations, as well as to showcase evidence throughout the room. With the touch of a button, they’re able to control pretty much anything from a Crestron touch screen.
RESULTS
Crestron technology has not only helped improve the safety and welfare of all the county’s judicial-court participants, but it will also assist in elevating future projects. With Crestron, Benton County’s courtrooms and hearing rooms now serve as tech-forward settings for trials and have helped create a consistent experience across all the spaces.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
