Courthouse upgrades to airport-style security www.privateofficer.com

Courthouse upgraded to airport style security http://www.privateofficer.com

The Lompoc Report
By Glenn Wallace/Staff Writer
Santa Barbra CA. July 17 2008
Visitors to the Lompoc branch of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court are being confronted by a new main entrance, with airport-style security.
The changes may inconvenience some people, but they’re necessary, according to court administrators, who are using the Lompoc site as a test run before installing metal detectors at most court sites in the county.

The juvenile courts in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara are scheduled to have the updated metal detectors installed by the end of the year, and most of the county’s other court locations by 2009.

Anyone attending a court hearing in one of Lompoc’s two Superior Courts, 115 Civic Center Plaza, will now be required to enter through the building’s southwest entrance, off West Cypress Avenue and South E Street.

Once through the doors, people attending court will pass through a metal detector before being allowed inside. The change began Monday.“It’s long overdue,” said Superior Court Executive Officer Gary M. Blair, adding that Santa Barbara’s superior court system was the largest in the state to still lack any type of perimeter security.San Luis Obispo courts installed a similar system in March 2007.

Court Assistant Executive Officer Darrel Parker said violent conflicts in the courts have been rare. “We don’t want to wait for some incident though,” he said.

The perimeter security system, including two private security guards and a sheriff’s deputy, is funded by $1.8 million annually from the State Judicial Council for the expressed purpose of court security.Lompoc, Parker said, was chosen as the first site to have security added due to the ease of adding it to the courthouse layout.

Most of the county’s court locations will have the new security by the end of 2009, officials said, but the Solvang court site, in session only once a week for minor offenses, will not have security added.“It’ll only be as invasive as necessary to keep people from bringing a weapon into the court area,” Parker said, adding that small amounts of jewelry and shoes would generally not set off detectors.

If the detectors do indicate something metal, the sheriff’s department officer may do a pat down. If the security personnel cannot locate the source of the alarm, the individual might be denied access to the court.

Parker said the courts do not anticipate the additional wait to enter the courtroom to be more than a few minutes even during peak traffic times, in the case of the Lompoc site.

For convenience, the court entryway doors off Civic Center Plaza, across from Lompoc’s City Hall, will give access to court transaction windows, allowing people who are not entering a court.

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