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Baker County state attorney outlines digital evidence system, flags $12,000 county budget request
Summary
Newly reelected Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Brian Kramer told the Baker County commission his office is adopting an automated digital evidence management system (Nice Justice) that will modernize prosecution work and will show up as about $12,000 in the county's next budget cycle as the county's percentage share of a shared IT budget.
Brian Kramer, the newly reelected state attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, told the Baker County Board of County Commissioners that his office is deploying a digital evidence management system and will ask the county to pay its share of the recurring cost.
Kramer said the circuit's prosecution offices are receiving far larger volumes of digital forensic evidence than in the past ' including body-worn camera footage, cell-phone downloads, license-plate reader data and other media ' and that manual handling is no longer sustainable. He said a vendor called Nice Justice provides a system where evidence can be uploaded, indexed and integrated into the office's case-management system.
The system will run as a shared IT operation across the six counties in the circuit; Kramer said cost is apportioned by population, and Baker County's share is expected to be about $12,000. Kramer told commissioners the county already supplies space, communications and computers to the state attorney's local office and that the new digital platform should produce efficiency gains across law enforcement and prosecution.
Kramer thanked the Baker County Sheriff's Office for early adoption in the circuit and said his office expects the system ultimately to save sheriff's office staff time responding to evidence requests. He said the sheriff's office would initially carry some short-term operational impacts but that automated exchange should reduce workload over time.
Kramer offered to return to the commission during the budget process to present detailed cost estimates and answer questions. He also introduced Rebecca Shinholzer as his new executive director.
Why it matters: Prosecutors and law enforcement nationwide are handling exponentially more digital material, and most offices must invest in evidence-management platforms to keep cases moving. Commissioners will see a modest, recurring line item in the county budget to pay Baker County's share of the circuit-wide system.
No formal vote or change was made at the April meeting; Kramer said he would brief commissioners again during the budget cycle.
