Gang-Related Trials Raise Security Issues

As the number of gang-related trials rises at the Ventura County Hall of Justice, officials hope that increased security will prevent street crime from spilling over into the courtrooms.

“With the way the violence is going out on the streets, there is no telling what the gang associates are going to do when they come into the courtroom,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dick Southwick, who supervises bailiffs at the Hall of Justice.

A sign of the concern over courtroom security came when the Sheriff’s Department requested funds to purchase two airport-style metal detectors earlier this year. The devices, which cost $8,673, have enabled bailiffs to conduct weapon searches on everyone entering selected courtrooms.

In the past, bailiffs rarely needed to conduct weapons searches, Southwick said. When a case posed a security risk, the walk-through detector owned by the district attorney’s office and a number of hand-held detectors belonging to the Sheriff’s Department sufficed.

In the past six months the court system has seen more serious, gang-related trials than it did in the previous two years. There have been four gang-related slayings this year--compared to only one the previous year--several attempted murders and numerous drive-by shootings countywide.

Some officials are convinced that the additional detectors cannot possibly provide assurances that the building is completely secure.

“It’s too late to try and screen for weapons once the general public has access to the building,” Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said.

A number of judges have delivered similar comments to Presiding Superior Court Judge Edwin M. Osborne, who acknowledges that security “is a consistent problem here in the Hall of Justice. This building was really not designed with the view of any screening of the public entrants.”

Although weapons are rarely found, Osborne believes that they are being brought into the courthouse.

“We are certain weapons are coming in, and we do occasionally find them,” he said.

Bringing defendants to trial in gang cases poses a host of theoretical difficulties, ranging from gang members coming to court armed, confrontations erupting between members of opposing gangs or a family member seeking revenge against a gang defendant, Southwick said.

“Since these people are coming in for more serious crimes, especially involving violence, we obviously feel more of a concern for the security of people coming into the courthouse,” said John H. Kingsley, commander of the Sheriff’s Court Services Division.

One of the recently purchased metal detectors was in use outside Courtroom 36 last week as people lined up to hear the jury’s verdict in a conspiracy trial involving eight members of a Thousand Oaks gang.

Three armed bailiffs stood guard as the long line of defendants, family members, spectators and journalists waited to enter the court. After emptying their pockets and handing over their purses and other bags, the group was ushered one at a time through the square-arched metal detector.

At least 10 of the 30 people set the detector off while walking through, leading to a second search with a hand-held metal detector in an observation room at the back of the courtroom.

Aside from the threat of weapons, other problems have arisen.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy recounts a conversation that he had with a witness who felt intimidated by spectators flashing gang symbols during trials. “It scares them. People should have the right to come into the courtroom without being harassed.”

Another problem is the number of incidents in which bailiffs have to physically intervene to prevent violence involving spectators, defendants and courtroom personnel, Southwick said.

“When I first came here, the security cases were more the exception than the rule. Now, almost every day, there’s something coming through the system that flags us to a security need for a particular case.”

This partly results from an increase in gang involvement in the court caseload--gang members make up about 70% to 85% of all cases in Juvenile Court, prosecutors said--and the increasing seriousness of the charges against them.

“It’s true that we have a lot more gang cases, but we also have a lot more serious, violent crimes tied to gangs,” Hardy said.

While insisting that security in the Hall of Justice is adequate, Kingsley said there is “a greater degree of awareness today than there ever has been about the level of violence directed at judges and prosecutors across the United States.”

According to Sheriff’s Department records, there is a higher percentage of lawyers holding concealed weapons permits in Ventura County than members of any other Ventura County profession. Included in the ranks of pistol-packing prosecutors are Bradbury, four deputy district attorneys and two Municipal Court judges.

Bradbury said he and his subordinates carry the weapons for personal safety outside the Hall of Justice or when working in the field with other law enforcement officers. But he said there are always rumors that several judges wear guns beneath their black robes while sitting on the bench.

The only way to guarantee the safety of those entering the courthouse, Bradbury said, is to install a security screening system at the main entrance of the Hall of Justice.