PORT TOWNSEND — Saying she would secure her burglarized offices, elected county Court Clerk Ruth Gordon on Monday called on the Jefferson County commissioners to become more involved in security measures for the courthouse.
Gordon, whose office sometime early Friday morning was broken into, vandalized and burglarized, invited a county commissioner to sit on the county employees’ courthouse security committee.
Commissioner Phil Johnson, D-Port Townsend, volunteered.
“I’m going to buy a security camera for my office so the next person is not going to be able to walk around without impunity,” Gordon told the commissioners.
Gordon said she believed that a criminal who went through the court system was responsible.
The intruder set two sheets of paper on fire that scorched the side of a cubicle but quickly extinguished itself, attempted to break into a walk-in safe containing court documents, damaged a courtroom video camera and stole one of two scales from a “Scales of Justice” antique in the Superior Court judge’s chamber.
“That’s a real violation of a person’s space,” Johnson said.
Court documents
Gordon also recommended that the county commissioners consider funding a computer system that would allow residents to buy court documents online, which would add to court record security.
She invited the commissioners to visit her third-floor office and talk to her employees.
They accepted.
“We’re really lucky that the person who broke in didn’t have a chance to cause a catastrophic fire, ” Gordon said.
The burglar entered the statuesque courthouse, opened in 1892, by breaking a window to county Administrator Philip Morley’s ground floor office.
The break-in occurred between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Friday.
It was reported by a janitor arriving for work at about 5:30 a.m., Morley said.
There are no security cameras at the courthouse, a Romanesque brick, block and mortar building with a clock tower.
The glass security window on the door to the court clerk’s office also was broken.
Morley said the courtroom video camera, which is not for security purposes, was found on the floor.
Past break-in
The last time the courthouse was broken into was in December.
The attempted burglary was foiled thanks to county workers making a routine check of the courthouse.
Joe D’Amico, president of Gardiner-based Security Services Northwest, offered his expertise to county officials to add security at the courthouse.
Morley said he would follow up with D’Amico and discuss with other government entities what they do to secure their facilities.
D’Amico has approached the county more than once offering security measures, including metal detectors at the courthouse entrance.
County sheriff’s deputies occasionally use metal detectors to check purses of those entering Superior Court during high-profile criminal trials.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
