Courthouse security -- a perspective view?
 

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.

The only problem that I have with this is when I am called for jury duty or something like that and I am required to leave my weapons at home. Kind of upsets me.

There are two courthouse buildings that I go to on a more-than-once-a-year basis in my city. I often wear sandals with a large metal buckle; when I walk thru, they set off the alarm. I saw the deputy look down the first time it happened and said "its your sandals, go ahead on, you're fine" (I was wearing a skirt at the time so nothing was covered up by pants), and I looked back and saw in the bank of lights around the frame, only the bottom couple were lit up.

I never have the issue "resolved" in any other way, don't have to take off my shoes and go back thru, don't have to be hand-wanded, etc.

Edited to add: The first time I alarmed the WTMD for my sandals, when I dressed for the day and left home, I didn't know I would go to the courthouse later that day, or I might have worn different shoes. Once I saw how easily the alarm was resolved, I still wore them if I wanted to, even if I knew I would be going to court that day.

Keys, wallets and cellphones go into a small bowl which you slide on a ledge past the WTMD on the outside (push the bowl at least halfway past the detector, walk thru, they hand you your bowl). They check keys for handcuff keys (if they see one, you can leave and put them in your car or you can surrender them there - they won't hold them and give them back on your exit... and... ummm... that knowledge is from observation not personal experience :D).

I supposed that's the difference between professional officers trained to do a real job, and clerks who are trained to do something in an attempt to justify the existence of their job.

Cali

While this is an interesting comparison, I don't think it's particularly relevant.

First: the threat model at play is different. Nobody's concerned about someone hijacking a courthouse, transporting it to a different state, and blowing it up there. A courthouse is a stationary target; the type of damage that can be wrought is qualitatively different.

Second: the nature of people's use of the courthouse is different. One of the arguments frequently heard in TS&S is that no-one is forced to fly aboard a commercial aircraft. (Largely, that depends upon one's definition of "forced", but let's set that aside for the moment.) In contrast, one can certainly be compelled to appear at a courthouse, under penalty of imprisonment (e.g. for contempt of court). At that point, since people can be compelled to submit to security procedures, one must take greater care to respect their civil rights.

To be clear: I'm not convinced that TSA's procedures are effective, or appropriate. But comparing TSA checkpoints with courthouse security seems to me to be comparing apples and oranges. I think there's plenty of room to criticize TSA on its own merits, without having to make comparisons to other security systems.

I see plenty of relevance... large numbers of people can be safely screened by properly trained officers to prevent weapons/bombs/etc., from being brought into a secure area.

Courthouses that operate in this manner are an example of the right way to do it... TSA is a tarnished example of the wrong way to do it.

Cali

To each his own, I guess.

Being called for jury duty bothers me because I'm required to leave my tools at home.

I don't carry "weapons." But for some reason, the Powers That Be seem to want to call my flashlight and my pocketknife "weapons."

Comparative discussions are fascinating and can be illuminating. While we do welcome them on Flyertalk, TS/S isn't the forum to hold them. Unfortunately, the OP is not yet qualified to post in appropriate forum -- OMNI/PR -- for another few months so we'll close topic here rather than move it where he/she cannot access it.

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essxjay
TS/S moderator