Increased Security Proposed for Courthouse

Concerned about the risk of violent confrontations, Ventura County court officials have proposed a $1.2-million overhaul of courthouse security that would add metal detectors and X-ray machines to the first floor of the Ventura Hall of Justice.

The proposal, which is set to go before the Board of Supervisors next week, is aimed at making it more difficult to carry a concealed weapon into the county’s main courthouse.

It would require anyone entering the building to walk through one of two airport-style metal detectors, which would become the only public access to the courthouse and adjacent offices of the district attorney and public defender.

Those metal detectors would be at the north and south entrances to the courthouse. A large stairway on the ground floor would have to be gutted to make room for the hulking new devices. People leaving the Hall of Justice would be required to exit through one-way revolving doors that would be installed near the cafeteria and law library. Nearly a dozen other doors throughout the courthouse would be locked.

The proposal is the culmination of a five-year effort to beef up security at the main courthouse, where an increasing number of violent felonies and emotionally charged family-law cases are being heard each year.

Although there are two metal detectors now on the fourth floor outside the family courts, officials say additional security is needed.

“The need is really to provide a safe environment for jurors, litigants, the general public and our employees,” said Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie, who is leading the effort to upgrade security.

But the plan has gained new urgency in recent months because the clock is ticking on the county’s access to available state funds.

The Superior Court is already slated to receive more than $839,000 to pay for new equipment and staffing, about two-thirds of the cost of the project.

But by law, that money cannot be used to pay for building modifications that would be required for the metal detectors and X-ray machines.

As a result, a committee of judges, court and law enforcement officials has asked the supervisors to spend $400,000 in county money to gut the main entryway of the courthouse and make other upgrades throughout the facility.

As proposed, that money would come directly from the county’s courthouse construction fund and not from the general fund. The money that goes into the construction fund comes from local traffic and civil court fees, not from property taxes.

But the board doesn’t have long to ponder the proposal. Money for the project must be spent before July 1, the end of the fiscal year, or the courts will lose the state funding. Court officials plan to make their pitch on Tuesday at the board’s regular meeting, and have already dispatched a letter explaining the reasons behind the request.

Although no final operating plan has been proposed, security measures would apply to every person entering the courthouse--including about 700 court employees, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, public defenders and their clients.

And that has some lawyers fuming.

“This is really unnecessary,” said Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley. “The type and level of screening proposed is quite severe.”

But Brodie said policy decisions about who would be forced to go through the metal detectors and who would be exempted haven’t been finalized. And he stressed that no measures will be adopted without full input from those most affected.

“Those decisions have not been made and we have some time to make them,” he said. “We are going to do our best.”

Farley said it isn’t simply an issue of convenience for her or other attorneys. She said the public defender’s office is eager to ensure that the courthouse feels safe, but not oppressive to those who use it.

“I feel very strongly that people who are members of the public who want to come in and observe the court process should be allowed to come in a manner that does not rob them of dignity and privacy,” she said.

Security upgrades were first considered in the wake of a deadly 1993 shooting rampage in which a man gunned down three employees at the Employment Development Department offices in Oxnard.

“Ever since the EDD incident, we have been extremely concerned,” said Vinse Gilliam, deputy chief investigator for the district attorney’s office, which has been involved in crafting the plan.

“When you are dealing with defendants who can lose their liberty by being convicted,” Gilliam said, “we are always concerned about security.”

After the shooting, the county spent $70,000 to hire a consultant to study security at courthouses and other buildings.

The consultant determined that so-called “full-entry screening” should be established to head off the types of violent incidents that have rocked other courthouses across the state.

A 1995 shooting at the civil courthouse in downtown Los Angeles left a woman involved in a divorce case dead and galvanized court officials there into purchasing four metal detectors.

Ventura County started using metal detectors the same year at the courthouse, which has had its own close calls when it comes to violence.

In 1991, members of two rival Oxnard gangs squared off in a fistfight inside the Hall of Justice. Four people were arrested, and county officials remained concerned about the possibility of future gang-related incidents erupting inside the building.

“There has been, and continues to be, concern for the security of people who come to court,” said Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren.

“There are courtrooms that are volatile, where emotions run high, where the court has an affirmative duty to prove a safe environment for those who seek its services.”