Philadelphia District Attorney asks for money to upgrade his offiice

    Philadelphia’s District Attorney is pressing city council for money so he can modernize the office space and equipment he uses.

    Philadelphia’s District Attorney is pressing City Council for money so he can modernize the office space and equipment he uses.

    D.A. Seth Williams went to City Council this week on the 100th day of his term of office. He asked for money to upgrade his office so he and others can work more efficiently. He gave the example of how now casework has to be documented manually and then stored in folders.

    “In most other jurisdictions they do that electronically, there’s no paper, it saves time and saves the resources of our local government,” said Williams. “A minimal investment of about $325,000 to allow us to get the hardware and software to do that would be a tremendous savings for the city long term.”

    The old-fashioned folders Williams uses now took Council President Anna Verna down memory lane. She says she remembers them from when she worked in the D.A.’s office years ago. Williams says he also needs more money for witness relocation expenses.

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    Members of council only listened to the pleas of the D.A. during their budget hearing and didn’t give him an answer.

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