Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Challenges 

The need for all court proceedings to take place remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ability to connect multiple participants at different locations into one meeting.

Need to maintain a very high level of security and privacy required for court hearings.

Need for interoperability with the Joint Court’s existing Cisco video systems and the flexibility to join meetings securely from any device.

Need for a video conferencing platform with a simple, convenient interface.

Pexip Solutions

Adoption of Pexip Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) for multiple participants.

Use of the Pexip Service, with interoperability for Cisco video systems.

Results

Enabled the Joint Court to fully migrate court hearings to a virtual format.

Facilitated greater safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Provided a reliable, easy-to-use experience for meeting participants.

Many justice organizations around the world are now using video conferencing to enable court proceedings to be held remotely. While this trend has accelerated in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced even more rapid video adoption to enable continuity of operations amidst travel restrictions and health guidelines like social distancing.

The Joint Court experienced this increase in need first-hand. The court has physical courtroom locations spread across several Caribbean islands, meaning that even before the pandemic, there was a need for a reliable video conferencing solution. For that reason, the Joint Court was already using video solutions from Pexip. But, when the COVID-19 restrictions came into effect it needed to scale up this facility and migrate its entire proceedings to a virtual format.

As a justice organization, maintaining reliability and security are critical considerations and of paramount importance for conducting virtual hearings. The security criteria also needed to be balanced with the flexibility of being able to use multiple devices and platforms. At the same time, offering an easy-to-use experience was another important factor.

After testing multiple collaboration platforms, the Joint Court selected Pexip because of its high-quality video and audio connections. They found that platforms did not offer a consistently reliable experience, and sometimes the quality would drop, whereas Pexip was always consistent.

The Joint Court’s chosen system uses Pexip Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) to connect multiple participants into one meeting. Parties are often located on different islands, and even overseas in the Netherlands, but Pexip brings everyone together seamlessly, regardless of where they’re located or what devices they're using. 

Pexip’s interoperability also means that guests can join from devices such as a laptop, webcam-enabled PC, web browser, mobile device, or video conferencing system. The Joint Court uses Cisco video systems in their courtrooms and judges can easily join remote hearings hosted on Pexip using these devices. Being able to integrate video meeting software with their existing Cisco hardware makes hybrid meetings between in-office and remote attendees easy and frictionless.

Another standout feature is Pexip’s ability to set PIN codes and lock VMRs, ensuring that meetings are private and secure. The court relies on the Pexip Service, which leverages best-in-class industry encryption standards and complies with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre 14 Cloud Security Principles. Offering a simple and safe interface was yet another box ticked for making the choice to use a Pexip solution.

Pexip’s solutions have helped the Joint Court to successfully migrate all of its court hearings to a virtual format. Detainees are able to virtually meet the judge without leaving the police station or jail, limiting potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus. The Joint Court has set up a dedicated video conferencing workstation at the police station for this purpose, and has received very positive feedback on the Pexip solution.

"Before, people would have to travel, even between islands, or from outside the islands to attend trials," says Igor Campagnard, Junior System Administrator "Now we can just send a link and they can join from their desk."

Judicial staff have found that video calls are much more reliable when hosted on Pexip’s service. The court also thinks that Pexip’ solution offers a simple, easy-to-use experience. Users can join a virtual session just by clicking a button, from the device of their choice. With Pexip, everything just works.

As the use of video conferencing continues to expand, training and education can help new users to more easily get started and support organizations with overcoming barriers to adoption. Recognizing this, the court sends instructional guides to participants in new legal cases so they understand how to join their virtual session. By preparing them in advance, judicial staff can ensure that hearings start on time and maintain efficiency in their processes.

Overall, the solution provided by Pexip has played a key role in helping the Joint Court to modernize its technology for collaborative operations, but also accelerate its move towards digital transformation.

Learn more about how Pexip helps government organizations make remote communication more efficient, or contact us today.