County Court to Soon Add Metal Detectors

If you’re planning a trip to the main county courthouse in Santa Ana, you’d better get used to a new routine beginning April 16: electronic metal detectors at all entrances for the first time.

Orange County Marshal John E. Fuller, who oversees court security, concedes some people won’t like it. “For some, a two-minute wait is enough to complain [about]. But it will mean a safer courthouse for visitors and those who work there.”

Orange County is among the last of the state’s urban counties to install the airport-style security checkpoints for detecting firearms and other weapons. Riverside and San Diego counties have had electronic security in place for years. Los Angeles County has such weapons screening at 33 of its court facilities. San Bernardino County last month installed the system at its main courthouse in downtown San Bernardino.

Pushing for more widespread use of electronic courthouse security has been a priority of the National Sheriffs Assn. and the California Judicial Council, led by state Chief Justice Ronald M. George.

“A courthouse is a place where you can see your entire life change with the bang of a gavel,” said Edward W. Keyton, security training director for the National Sheriffs Assn. “That means emotions run high. It’s not a place where you want any weapons handy for those who lose control.”

The use of metal detectors has long been advocated by local judges, as well as the Orange County Grand Jury. It warned last year that “the courthouse now allows virtually unrestricted access.” The most vigorous booster for improved security was former Marshal--now Sheriff--Mike Carona, who warned that the county was running the risk of a tragic incident of violence.

But financing has always been the major holdup. County supervisors, though agreeing such a system was needed, worried about the recurring operating costs, especially after the 1994 county bankruptcy.

The Legislature, under pressure from George and the Judicial Council, agreed last year to set aside special funding for courthouse security. That allowed the Superior Court here to sidestep its debate with county officials.

Orange County has received close to $300,000 from the state for the electronic equipment--magnetometers and X-ray machines--and $734,000 for annual operating expenses. The county marshal’s office has hired 19 additional armed court services officers to staff five new security posts.

Superior Court Executive Officer Alan Slater said his office plans to seek electronic security at all the county’s justice centers--Harbor, South, West and North--in upcoming state budget requests.

How much grumbling will all this cause? Marshal Fuller expects many complaints until the public--and courthouse workers--get used to walking single file through the metal detectors. Head counts in preparation for the change show close to 8,000 daily visitors and workers at the courthouse.

Visitors also will have to get used to leaving such things as scissors, pocketknives and pepper spray behind.

Court officials have learned from experience that dangerous weapons are brought into court. Electronic security was installed when the seven-story Betty Lou Lamoreaux Juvenile Justice Center in Orange opened in 1992; authorities were shocked at what people were carrying on them.

“We’d heard this from other counties, but we began to see it for ourselves,” Slater said. “We were finding spooky-looking guns, knives, martial arts equipment. Some lawyers, we discovered, regularly carry handguns in their briefcases.”

Electronic security can’t solve all potential problems. Last June in Compton, a man facing sexual assault charges managed to get by the electronic security by carrying in a wooden knife. After he was found guilty, he used it to attack two deputy marshals in a rage before he was shot and killed.

But the experts agree that electronic security can at least cut down on such incidents.

Times librarians Sheila Kern and Lois Hooker contributed to this story.

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Stepping Up Courthouse Security

By mid-April, metal detectors will be installed at entrances to the Orange County Courthouse.

Source: Orange County Courthouse