All new employees attend an orientation session conducted by our training specialist. This session gives the new employee an overview of the core computer programs that the office uses and at the same time many other procedures and policies are explained. All employees are required to attend additional specific training sessions on the various programs we use on a daily basis. We have a fully equipped training room with a projector and four workstations in our Clearwater Office. We also have a training room in our New Port Richey office for our Pasco employees that is similarly equipped. We have found this in-house training invaluable to our employees in helping them do their various jobs.

CLIENT VISITATION FROM ATTORNEYS' COMPUTERS

This equipment allows attorneys to confer with clients from their desks who are being held in the Pinellas County and Land of Lakes Jails. With the cooperation of the Sheriffs, the use of this technology has allowed our staff to communicate 24/7 which was not possible previously.






VIDEO CONFERENCING CAPABILITIES

In 1999, a group of individuals with common goals met to discuss the development of a video-conferencing shared infrastructure within the Sixth Judicial Circuit consisting of Pinellas and Pasco Counties. A cooperative effort with Pinellas County Board of County Commissioner agencies, Court Administration and the State Attorney enabled the success of this project. The goals included providing an infrastructure which would have the capability of using technology in multiple ways thereby serving more than one public interest yet providing each agency with internal capabilities unique to that agency. An open system was envisioned in preparation for future technology as it becomes available.
Better use of public resources and public safety were also among the common goals. After two years of planning, the Public Defender's goal of being able to telecommunicate among all three of its offices and other agencies was finally complete. Personnel in Clearwater, New Port Richey and Dade City offices are able to utilize the equipment for a variety of purposes including a fourth unit placed in the Land Of Lakes jail. This utilization so positively impacted both the Public Defender and the Corrections personnel that additional units were placed in the Land of Lakes jail.

The equipment has already been used for the taking of out-of-state witness depositions - thereby saving travel costs of assistant public defenders and assistant state attorneys. We have been able to join and participate in several conferences held by other state agencies. Our attorneys, investigators and interviewers contact clients in the Land Of Lakes jail facility from the units located in our offices in New Port Richey and Dade City without the necessity of traveling long distances. The equipment was used recently to conduct an employment interview in California resulting in the hiring of an attorney. Usage possibilities in the future are infinite.