Tag Archives: ongoing

Day-5 with an alternate juror, puppies, and ongoing deliberations! #JuryDuty

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Day-5 of my Jury Duty! Bueller? Bueller? Hello?

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Jury Assembly Room

As you can see, almost all the jurors were excused for the week. Many have served and are done with their assigned cases. Some potential jurors didn’t even get called. It’s all random. So there is a strong possibility that you will get sent home if there are no cases to be had.

Aside from the typical 12 jurors needed to serve, judges will normally have two alternate jurors. This is done just in case one of the 12 jurors are unable to fulfill their duty to the courts/case.

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Jury box action shot

This is exactly what happened to us this morning. Juror #3 was out so Alternate juror #1 dropped right in the slot. Alternate jurors listen to the entire case and can easily slide into a main juror slot at anytime assigned by the judge.

Also, I couldn’t pass up a grand view of Tower City Center looking so stately in the sunny Cleveland daylight.

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Tower City Center – 2015

If you get assigned to Jury Duty, bring your camera. Chances are, you’ll see some spectacular views of downtown #CLE.

BTW-Yesterday, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Courts’ Cleveland APL Mobile Unit Program to bring puppies every other week so that jurors can play with them during their lunch break on Thursdays. Superb idea! Sadly, I had to catch up on a few emails so I didn’t have time to play with the puppies.

For our specific criminal case? Deliberations are still ongoing so it’s not over yet!

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Shhhhh! Trying to deliberate!

Main question in the deliberation rooms are guilty vs not guilty. That’s it. In these courts, the jury does not decide punishment – that’s only grand jury cases.

The judge explained in detail, the laws pertaining to the case. He reviewed all four counts in detail, gave definitions, and reminded us again that for our criminal case, we only decide guilty or not guilty on each of the charges.

So yes, if you can register to vote, you do possess the skills to be a juror!

Gotta get back to deliberating. I’m definitely earning my keep this week doing my civic duty!

Reporting live from the deliberation room…

@rusnivek

Technical jargon and giving actionable information Safety-PIO-SM-14-006

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14-006: Technical jargon and giving actionable information
Agency: Chicago Fire Department Topic(s): Industry codes / Actionable info
Date: Fall 2014 Platform: Twitter

Industry speak or technical jargon is part of what we do every day. But using technical terms on a social media platform will be confusing to those who are NOT in the fire service. That’s what the Chicago Fire Department did yesterday at their big 3-alarm fire when they tweeted technical jargon.

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The use of technical jargon is rampant in emergency services but when speaking to the media or the general public, we need to remember that everyone did not grow up with a VOX alarm or SCU tones. In this case, a “311” or 3-11 alarm means that there are 11 engines, 5 Trucks, 2 Tower Ladders, 6 Battalion Chiefs, 1 Rescue Squad, 2 Ambulances, 2 Paramedic Chiefs, Deputy District Chief, Deputy Fire Commissioner, and the 1st Deputy Fire Commissioner are onscene. There is no way to include all that information in a tweet, but using more simple terms will help your audience understand the scale of your ongoing incident.

Before you post images, make sure your pictures are rotated correctly. I know accuracy is sometimes overlooked in lieu of speed, but it takes less than 5 seconds to orientate/rotate a picture (In this case, it was going to be a long operation). And note, by just rotating a picture does not equate that you are “doctoring up” photos. But a correctly posted photo will help media repost and format your information quicker to the masses.

During an emergency situation, your constituents need the information pushes to be actionable and specific to your audience. Not only inform them of the danger, but tell them what they can do about it.

A more effective tweet could have read:

Chicago Fire: Large 3-alarm fire at Harrison St x Fifth Ave. Traffic delays-avoid the area. (insert two pictures)

By phrasing it this way:

  1. You cite the authority having jurisdiction and established incident command presence.
  2. You generally described the size/category of the ongoing incident and critical information to media.
  3. You identify the exact location of the incident.
  4. You describe the delays in the area and give actionable information to your constituents.
  5. You still have lots of room to push properly orientated pictures with your informational tweet.

 

Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.

@rusnivek

***To download this as a single-page printable format, click this file:

TechnicalJargonAndGivingActionableInformation-Safety-PIO-SM-14-006