MINNEAPOLIS -- Sometimes technology seems impersonal. With some creativity in its application, however, technology can be a source of comfort, security and justice.
A creative application of audio/visual technology has produced confidential screening rooms for interviewing alleged abuse victims. To date, the technology has been installed in CornerHouse in Minneapolis, the Sunflower House in Kansas City, Kan. and in the Regional Child Protection Center at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. The technology provides prosecutors valuable information that has helped to convict criminals.
Statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Children, Youth and Families underscore the need for such technology. In , it is estimated that 879,000 children were found to be victims of maltreatment, including physical, sexual and psychological abuse.
"By mixing creative design and technology we're able to come up with some very practical aides for investigators, prosecutors and health professionals," said Jeff Stoebner, vice president of AVI Systems, Inc., a Midwest-based company that designed and installed the technology. "We were able to put technology into places that are discreet and effective."
The technology installed in the rooms varies from location. As a rule, all video cameras are out of sight and audio recording equipment is discreetly placed. For example, a microphone can be placed in a couch; a video camera can be hidden behind a ceiling dome and operated by remote control. The rooms are designed for comfort and security.
Super-sensitive microphones pick up even a child's whisper so that if the recording is entered into evidence during a trial, a jury hears the child's own words, which are more compelling than just hearing the interviewer repeat what the child said. Also, law enforcement or district attorneys monitoring interviews from the observation room can direct the interviewer to repeat a question with a light sensor that the child cannot see.
Other technology includes: VHS recording and DVD mastering; videoconferencing infrastructure; multiple cameras and training facilities. Training rooms provide for large screen displays that remotely lower from the ceiling. These rooms help train professionals on how to handle different situations. People from around the world use the CornerHouse training facility to learn how to effectively talk to children about abuse.
CornerHouse is an interagency child abuse evaluation and training center. CornerHouse conducts sensitive investigative interviews and professional training services, which are designed to positively impact the lives of traumatized children. CornerHouse installed three interview rooms to provide an unobtrusive environment to talk to alleged child victims. The rooms are comfortable with a couch and a chest in addition to being equipped with two cameras and microphones that monitor the children during the interview. The cameras allow children to be recorded throughout the room. Each interview conducted at CornerHouse must have three videotaped copies created at the same time as the interview with a time/date stamp to show that the recording was not edited. A recording is then distributed to law enforcement and archived copies are kept at CornerHouse.
Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention center, installed closed circuit monitoring of interview rooms for children evaluated for potential abuse. The equipment was installed in two rooms. The cameras are hidden within furniture and unobtrusive microphones are located in the walls. These rooms each have the ability to record multiple VHS copies and master to DVD. Professional child abuse interviewers, law enforcement agencies in Johnson and Wyandotte Counties and child protection workers use the rooms. Videoconferencing is used for on-going staff training with other like organizations around the country.
Blank Children's Hospital installed two interview rooms and an observation room at its Child Protection Center. Each interview room is used by child-protection personnel to conduct interviews. Directly next door is the observation room, where all the recording electronics are housed. The main room has cameras and a discreetly hidden, extremely sensitive microphone system that picks up even a child's whisper. A security-type camera and four microphones are mounted in a dome enclosure on the ceiling. The setting was created with the purpose of not being intimidating to a child; and yet to be able to document, via audio and video footage, the interview process.
AVI Systems, Inc. is a leading presentation, videoconferencing, video production and nonlinear postproduction systems provider. It is a recognized leader in the videoconferencing and AV industry.
Source: AVI Systems
