In the course of my professional activities, I have visited numerous secure buildings. These include courthouses, jails, prisons, and federal office buildings. I thought I would give my observations on this to give some perspective here.

The busiest location that I have seen is the county courthouse. I don't know how many people go through every day, but it must be equivalent to that of an airport checkpoint at least at some times. I have often seen lines that are perhaps 150 feet long that take maybe 25 minutes to clear.

In this courthouse, some years ago there was a domestic relations related shooting incident in which one person was killed. This was prior to the institution of security measures.

The current search protocol at that courthouse is a WTMD and a bag xray. ID check is NOT required. Shoe removal is not required unless they alarm the WTMD (many do, as there are often metal components in the soles). Pretty much all metal items must be removed. Persons are allowed multiple attempts to enter through the WTMD; continued alarms can be resolved by a hand wand, but the item setting off the alarm must be seen by the officer.

I don't know how implants such as artificial hips are handled, but I have never observed any sort of TSA style hand search. There is no "private room". Strollers and so forth are manually checked by the officers (and these are real sheriff's deputies.)

Given that this is a courthouse, a variety of people who FT may regard as "kettles" are there. These people unwisely wear things like steel-toed boots, belts with huge buckles, etc. On occasion, the person is simply not able (or perhaps, not willing) to satisfy the officers as to why the WTMD is alarming. They are turned away and not permitted to enter the courthouse.

Court staff and law enforcement are allowed to enter without going through the full security check, but they must show ID. Lawyers are permitted to acquire equivalent clearance; they must pay an annual fee to the sheriff and have a background check (which consists solely of an NCIC records check).

The entire screening process is overlooked by 2 to 4 armed sheriff's deputies who stand about 20 to 40 feet away in observation positions. I am not aware of any security cameras in operation at this courthouse, although there are certainly some in place outside and inside of other courthouses in the vicinity.

Sometimes when I used to carry coffee about I have been asked to take a drink from the cup, I suppose to make sure it's not gasoline or something. Cell phones used to have to be turned on to see if they were really cell phones; I don't know if this is still being enforced. Laptops must be removed from bags at this courthouse; at other courthouses and checkpoints in the vicinity this is not required.

I have never seen or heard of any incident where an officer has conducted anything like a TSA search. People are able BTW to leave the security line at any time and exit the courthouse without consequence.