Use of videotape equipment during preliminary stages preceding trial

In addition to the use of videotape equipment to record court proceedings as set forth within Supreme Court Rule 26, the supreme court is authorized and encouraged to permit, in appropriate situations, the use of video equipment and recordings during the preliminary stages preceding trial for any criminal offense including, but not necessarily limited to, bail hearings, arraignments, hearings wherein a defendant‘s guilty plea is entered and accepted by the court without trial, and other proceedings before the criminal court preliminary to trial.