It didn't take long for Youngstown City Council to approve spending $22,000 for a new video arraignment system for the Youngstown City Jail.
The jail will be the new location for video arraignments for Youngstown Municipal Court after Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington decided it was no longer feasible for his deputies to do them.
"It's an unfortunate incident, but I think for the safety of the courts, the employees and everybody involved, this was the best alternative that the city could come up with at this time," said 3rd Ward Councilman Nathaniel Pinkard.
The Youngstown Municipal Court judges and the Youngstown Police Department came up with the new plan. One or two Youngstown police officers will be taken off the streets to transport inmates from the Mahoning County Jail to the jail on the fifth floor of the police department for the video arraignments.
"So, there will be some reduced visibility of presence out there from that time period. So, I'm also concerned about that. There is some costs there that's behind the scenes that's gonna affect the Youngstown Police Department operation," said Youngstown Police Chief Rod Foley.
Poland Township police chief and Mahoning County Sheriff candidate Brian Goodin said the police department is putting the city at risk for more crime by taking officers off the streets to do the arraignments. And he said the city has thousands owed to them that can be used to pay two officers to do the job.
"We're trying to make this a safe community for everybody to raise a family in and it seems like we're just throwing a little more out there to not do that. And it just doesn't make sense from a law enforcement standpoint," Goodin said.
The video arraignments will start at the city jail on Monday.
