Counties weigh courthouse safety costs

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Bernadette Flatoff feels like she dodged a bullet.

While the Portage County clerk of court used the expression figuratively, she acknowledged that prior to March, it could just as easily have been taken literally.

Three months ago, the county’s circuit court in Stevens Point started using a metal detector to screen at the main entrance to the 53-year-old courthouse.

In the months since, more than 12,000 people have gone through the security checkpoint on the second floor and more than 480 dangerous items — from live ammunition to knives — were confiscated by officers.

Before the new system was installed, the court had no screening for weapons and relied on bailiffs or security officers patrolling the hallways to catch anything that looked suspicious or dangerous.

“Those statistics were really an awakening,” Flatoff said. “I think everyone feels a lot safer now.”

Flatoff, the clerk since 1990, said the delay in putting in a metal detector and security checkpoint was a combination of limited resources and what was seen as a lack of need.

The county had contemplated a new courthouse in recent years, which would have included a modern security checkpoint, she said, but the proposal never gained ground. As a result, the county opted to phase in security measures at the current courthouse instead, including the metal detector and hallway cameras, the latter of which will be installed by the end of July.

With no universal standard for county courthouse security in state, the extent of screening is largely left to each jurisdiction, but many have put more stringent systems in place following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Such was the case at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, which now has metal detectors and x-ray machines at each entrance as a result of 9/11, said John Barrett, Milwaukee County clerk of court.

“I think bigger cities feel a greater need,” Barrett said. “But big or small, the risks are the same and the danger is there for judges, clerks or whoever.”

SEE A RUNDOWN OF CONTRABAND CONFISCATED
AT THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY COURTHOUSE

If contraband is found during the screening process, he said, security officers typically give visitors the option of returning the item to their cars, storing it in a locker or turning it over to officers who then throw it away.

There are still some courthouses with no security checkpoints, however, such as Oneida County. The lack of screening makes Clerk of Court Brenda Behrle a little uneasy, she said.

While the courthouse is staffed with deputies to address any incidents, there are no metal detectors, pat downs or searches when entering the building, Behrle said.

“I think that would be helpful, somewhere down the road, to have a little more security overall,” said Behrle, who took over as clerk of court in January.

Oneida County Coordinator John Potters said security upgrades have been discussed at the county board level, but cost concerns have kept those conversations contained to closed session meetings.

“Something like that would be quite a cost,” he said. “Can I say there is not a need? I don’t know, but you don’t want to have a problem like Columbine or something.”

Potters said he isn’t aware of any incidents that have occurred as a result of the lack of screening. The community is small enough, he said, that policy makers have decided that the cost outweighs the need at this point.

But Door County Clerk of Court Nancy Robillard said it is naive to think that way.

“I think that being in a smaller county, we all have that false sense of security,” she said. “I admit that I probably have myself, but you never know.”

The Door County Courthouse updated its security to “airport” quality when a new justice center was built five years ago, she said. Prior to that, there was no screening of visitors.

Now the courthouse has a metal detector and scanners that allow security officers to force visitors to either return contraband to their cars or lock it up during their time in court, she said.

When it comes to security, Flatoff said she agreed that courts are better safe than sorry.

While she still has a panic button below her desk and officers still roam the courthouse hallways, she said, there is a heightened sense of security knowing that someone isn’t going to get past the metal detector with a loaded gun.

“People say we’re too small to have anything happen here,” Flatoff said. “But I think those numbers (of dangerous items confiscated) were really eye-opening.”

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].