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NEW YORK---A year after being banned, the state Office of Court Administration has rescinded the ban on camera cell phones in New York courthouses.
However, camera phones still can't be used in courtrooms.
The ban was instituted in the fall of 2004 because cameras aren't allowed in most New York courtrooms under the Civil Rights Law. With most cell phones now featuring cameras and the ban causing a security backlog, the ban was lifted.
OCS said the rule was akin to banning cell phones and that wasn't their intent. While cell phones can be taken into courtrooms, they can't be used for calls. Owners of cell phones are told to turn off their phones or silence them.
Security officers were spending more time confiscating camera cell phones and issuing vouchers for their retrieval than they were searching for weapons coming into the courthouses. 12-31-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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