Return to Governor's Information Forum
Oklahoma City - The Oklahoma State Supreme Court announced Monday that a wide area computer network will be installed in the state capitol complex and county courthouses throughout Oklahoma's 77 counties. The system will electronically link all Supreme Court Justices and staff to the Court of Appeals. In addition each county court clerk and district trial judge in the state will be linked to the network. The network will be protected by a military level security system.
Alma Wilson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said, "This network will be an extremely important communications tool for the judicial branch of government as it will provide immediate access to legal information for our judges, court clerks, and staff members statewide and that is vital in today's world of high tech communications. I commend the governor and the legislature for their instrumental assistance with this project."
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Watt, who is also President of the Oklahoma Judicial Conference, said, "Today's announcement is quite historic as the plans for this project began almost one year ago. Through the awarding of this bid a state of the art computer will be on the desk of every trial judge and court clerk in the state. This will give the judges and their staffs dial up access through modems to on line legal research services which will allow all literature of the law to be available instantly. To me that is very exciting and I know the trial judges throughout Oklahoma are ecstatic about this project as well."
Governor Keating commented, "This modernization and streamlining of our judicial system again demonstrates Oklahoma as a leader in the innovative deployment and use of modern technology to help state government operate more efficiently and effectively. All three branches of government were instrumental in the success of this project and I'm excited about what this system will do for the trial judges and court clerks throughout Oklahoma."
"This project is another example of Oklahoma's prowess in the information age. Through telemedicine, distance learning, and OneNet, the state's telecommunications network, Oklahoma is leading the nation in communications technology and innovative systems design. All of this enables state government to work smarter and at less cost," Ken Miller, Management Information Systems Director for the governor's office stated.
Installation of the system is expected to be completed soon.