Pulaski County may be reviving its courthouse security efforts, after a recent spike in violence. Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the county commissioners Monday that a courtroom fight between attorneys last week was especially alarming. “There were four attorneys,” he explained. “One attorney was talking over the other attorney, got up – there were two attorneys between them – started screaming at each other. You never knew what was going to happen. I said, ‘Guys, try to settle it down.’ I finally told the court reporter to call the sheriff’s department.”
But instead of an armed police officer, Shurn says the first person to respond was the county’s maintenance supervisor. “Dispatch didn’t answer right away,” he said. “They pressed the panic button. It rings into maintenance, also. The maintenance director came up first, along with [EMA Director] Sheri [Gaillard]. He couldn’t see what was going on. If there was actually a gun in there, your maintenance director could’ve been shot right through the head and dead. That’s a wake-up call. We need to do something on security.”
Shurn said a plan was drawn up by the county’s security committee over a year ago, but little progress has been made since then. Among other things, it called for a single point of entry with a metal detector, as well as a few guards to monitor the entrance.
Sheriff Jeff Richwine said he already has enough money in his Commissary Fund to buy the metal detector. But Shurn said that up until now, the county council hasn’t committed the money to hire the staff, “And I’ll go back to council at their next meeting and say, ‘What are you considering?’ You know, we were told there’s the LOIT B Public Safety Fund, but that’s used for something else, instead of the security.”
Shurn added that several county officials have also been raising concerns about security in courthouse offices.
