From September, 23 to 26, 2019, within the SIPOCA project 53 – Strengthening the capacity of the Public Ministry to implement the new provisions of the criminal codes in the field of hearings, a study visit was organized in Spain, in Seville. The agenda of the activity included working meetings at the headquarters of the National Police in Seville and at the headquarters of Fujitsu, developer of the application dedicated to hearing people, ARCONTE. 8 representatives of the Public Ministry – prosecutors with management and execution functions, IT specialists and civil servants – participated in this activity.
From September, 23 to 26, 2019, within the SIPOCA project 53 – Strengthening the capacity of the Public Ministry to implement the new provisions of the criminal codes in the field of hearings, a study visit was organized in Spain, in Seville. The agenda of the activity included working meetings at the headquarters of the National Police in Seville and at the headquarters of Fujitsu, developer of the application dedicated to hearing people, ARCONTE. 8 representatives of the Public Ministry – prosecutors with management and execution functions, IT specialists and civil servants – participated in this activity.
The objective of this activity was to study examples of good practices regarding hearings as part of the electronic criminal file, so that the new hearing management system corresponds to the highest standards in the field of digitizing the criminal investigation.
On September 24, 2019, a working meeting took place both with the management of the National Police in Seville and with the prosecutor’s contact point in the field of judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The Public Ministry delegation also benefited from a presentation tour of the National Police headquarters, as well as a presentation of the information systems used by the police to communicate with the prosecutor’s office – Lex Net, as well as other systems that support the criminal investigation activity under the attribution of judicial police bodies, such as VioGen.
At the Fujitsu headquarters, the director of the Andalusian Prefecture (institution in which a department is organized that manages all the information systems that serve the judicial system) and the developers of the ARCONTE system presented extensively the technical specifications, both the system architecture and the way to achieve the acquisition, the development phases, the problems encountered over time, the legislative changes intervened to facilitates the digitization of the judicial system.
In the Spanish judicial system, part of the criminal prosecution is carried out by the judicial police, which uploads a series of documents related to hearings in its computer system, Lex Net and sends them to the prosecutor as part of the criminal case. Complex hearings are conducted by the investigating judge in the criminal trial and are all recorded in the ARCONTE system. All hearings are subsequently integrated into the „case management” system. Therefore, the „actors” involved in a hearing file can access the recording both directly in the ARCONTE system and in the file management system. It is important to emphasize that the police, although it has the powers to carry out the criminal prosecution, does not have access to this system, dedicated entirely to the judicial system. Police collaborates with the prosecutor’s office only through Lex Net.
Among the good practices identified during the study visit we mention the following:
- Computerization of the criminal file management system;
- The hearings are no longer transcribed, resulting in lower costs and increased efficiency;
- ARCONTE is fully integrated with the file management system;
- The prosecutor participates in hearings in other areas of the country with the help of the ARCONTE system, which results in significant cost reductions and an efficient system;
- The system alerts in real time if there are problems with the quality of the audio-video recording;
- Recordings can also be made with a large number of people heard;
- Recordings are not lost if there are problems with the power supply and there is a back-up system that allows the recording to continue and in such situations.
Following the study visit, the participants concluded that ARCONTE is a hearing management system close to what is intended to be created within the SIPOCA 53 project for the implementation of the provisions of the new codes. Continuously working on the development of its functionalities since 2000, several functionalities were identified that would improve and the system to will be implemented within the Romanian Public Ministry.
Main purpose of the project is strengthening the capacity of the Public Ministry in respect of the hearings conducted in accordance with the provisions of the new criminal codes. Within this project, a software that will support the management activity at the level of the Public Prosecutor’s Offices (Public Ministry) will be developed and will thus contribute to streamlining and modernizing the working methods used in the criminal investigation activity, more precisely in the field of hearings. Total amount of SIPOCA 53 is 54,785,517.47 lei. This amount is broken down as follows: RON 46,010,993.85 – European Social Fund (ESF) reimbursable funds (83.98386284% of the total eligible project budget) and RON 8,774,523.62 – own contribution from the state budget (16.01613716% of the total eligible budget of the project).
Target goup: 670 prosecutors, clerks and IT specialists from the Public Ministry.
Starting date: 27 July 2017
Implementation period: 36 months
