County Board considers possible weapons, metal screening at courthouse
McLeod County received a citizen complaint regarding its courthouse security procedures, prompting a discussion at a County Board workshop Tuesday on whether it needed to install a weapons screening checkpoint at the entrance to the law enforcement center and courthouse.
Tim Langenfeld, chief deputy of the sheriff’s department, said that the estimated cost to install a fixed metal detector is a little less than $50,000. But, on top of that, the county would need to hire at least one civilian employee to man the detector. That person would be assisted by a licensed peace officer.
Langenfeld said that one possibility to help fund the additional staff person would be to not have a bailiff in each courtroom, but have staff rotate between the three courtrooms. However, Langenfeld added, there may be “pushback” from judges and court administration, who are used to having bailiffs in each courtroom. But Langenfeld said that another possibility is video monitoring of each courtroom, but that, too, would require someone to man the monitors.
Read the full story in the Jan.17 edition of The McLeod County Chronicle.