Courthouse Unveils Security Measures

Those headed to court here this week should prepare to check their bags at the door.

A $1.2-million overhaul of courthouse security kicked into action Monday morning, as authorities for the first time required that people entering the Ventura Hall of Justice be screened for weapons on the first floor.

Although some courthouse employees groused about the long lines to new metal detectors and X-ray machines, authorities said they received few complaints.

The full-entry screening system is designed to prevent people from carrying concealed weapons into the county’s main courthouse, where a growing number of violent felonies and volatile family law cases are heard each year.

Although two metal detectors have been operational outside family court on the building’s fourth floor since 1994, authorities have long felt tighter security was necessary throughout the Hall of Justice.

Upgrades were first considered after the 1993 shooting rampage at the Employment Development Department offices in Oxnard in which three people were killed by an unemployed computer engineer.

But a lack of available funding stalled the county’s efforts.

A break came earlier this year when Ventura County Superior Court was allocated more than $800,000 in state funds for new security equipment and staffing. The county kicked in an additional $400,000 for structural improvements, and after several weeks of construction, authorities launched the new system.