NASSAU, Bahamas, (CMC) – The judiciary in the Bahamas on Friday officially relaunched its digital court reporting system.

During a ceremony to mark the system’s relaunch, Chief Justice, Ian Winder, said the digital platform is extremely beneficial because it increases the court’s reporting capacity so matters can move through the justice system more quickly.

“We have 29 court reporters. They have not been an easy resource to secure in the Bahamas. Our reality, therefore, has been that due to the limited numbers of court reporters, there has been no court reporting in the Magistrate’s Court except in special circumstances and civil court reporters are accommodated only where there is availability,” he said.

“Additionally, because of the scarcity, there are understandably delays on getting transcripts returned to judicial officers and to the appellate court,” he added.

But, with the FTR system, Winder said some of the needs of the judiciary will finally be addressed.

“In the age of transparency and accountability an accurate record of the proceedings before the court ought to be a right not a matter of chance,” the chief justice said.

“Whether for use on appeal or for judicial officers deliberating on the evidence presented or some submissions made by counsel, the judge is better aided by the verbatim account rather than his handwritten summary of the proceedings taken as the matter progressed,” he added.

The digital system was first rolled out in the courts in 2015 but was met with “limited success.”

According to Winder, there were lessons learnt from that experience.

“We have been deliberate in this relaunch,” he said, noting that all but five civil courts have been outfitted with the equipment needed to support the digital system.

Some of the aspects of the system include a speech to text feature, among other things.

“We hope that by the end of the summer all of our courts will have the capacity to capture an audio record of the proceedings,” the chief justice said.