You might think the London Assembly's Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee the very pinnacle of boringness. People, you would be so wrong. Roger Evans AM stood in for Richard Tracey AM this morning when the main item of business was the failure of the Met to make the budget cuts it had aimed for (it says the Tamil protest and the G20 were largely to blame). But, as Roger reports, they hope to make future savings from the use of "virtual courts":
The pilot scheme sees 15 police stations across South London connected to Camberwell Green Magistrate's Court so that hearings can take place remotely, saving the cost of ferrying the suspects to court in a police van. Whilst most cases could be dealt with this way the pilot is focussed on the initial hearings that precede full trials. Potentially the time from charging a suspect to a court appearance can be reduced to three hours, cutting through the backlog of cases and saving court time.
The full Evans account is here. See also the agenda and the webcast. Souvenir T-shirts available soon.
