Officials OK courthouse security upgrades
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The committee has been working for some time on methods to improve security at the facility in light of a number of courthouse incidents around the country, with the latest being the Monday shooting of Reno, Nev., Judge Chuck Weller, who was shot through his office window by a sniper.
The first of two measures discussed by committee members was a closed-circuit camera system for the offices of General Sessions Judge Ross and his secretary, who have recently moved downstairs as part of a move designed to provide more space.
?Judge Ross is asking for his and secretary?s office to have a camera mounted outside the door,? said committee chairman Carl Bouldin, ?with a screen on the inside where they can watch and see who is at the door. If anybody knocks, or anybody comes up to that door, the camera will see them.?
Bouldin reported he had checked with director of accounts Linda Hillis and there was money in the current budget to provide the equipment. A local business, Security Equipment Co., won the bid with the total cost for the two cameras, monitors and equipment coming to $2,267.
Committee member Bessie Smithson supported the purchase.
?They really need that camera,? Smithson said, ?considering what they?re dealing with, drugs and things like that.?
Commissioner Ken Martin agreed.
?If I was a judge I?d want a camera,? Martin said. ?I?d definitely want to see who was coming in.?
Though Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley hasn?t requested a camera system as of yet, he did request some stepping up of security for his courtroom, including the purchase of radios and restraints for prisoners, according to Bouldin.
?Judge Stanley and his court officers are requesting we supply the courthouse with VHF portable radios, stands and chargers, for their courts,? Bouldin said, noting that boom mikes and stands also came as part of the package. Also requested were leg irons for prisoners who are being sentenced by Stanley in his court.
?Judge Stanley told me when he sentences somebody to go to jail they have no leg irons to put them in,? Bouldin said, ?and he told me they should be shackled at that point. They are $60 per set and he wants six sets so that?s $360.?
The total cost for the package was $2,180, with local company Warren Communications awarded the bid for the radios and electronics.
?They don?t have any radios now,? Bouldin said. ?The radios are for Judge Stanley and Judge Ross and the court officers to talk with one another. Say they have a group of prisoners out in the hall, then the court officer inside can talk to the man out in the hall. Or Stanley can talk with Ross, or Ross can talk with Stanley.?
The committee voted unanimously to approve the purchases.
All the commissioners agreed courthouse security is a major concern for the county.
?I think it?s very important, from what I?ve been hearing,? Turner said. ?That?s why we do need to get these security cameras and equipment.?
?It?s our job to keep these judges safe,? Martin added, ?and we need to do whatever it takes to do that.?