PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners will revisit a proposed resolution to appoint an ad hoc committee to study courthouse security issues Tuesday.
The county’s Superior Court judges pitched the idea in an April 2 letter and in a special meeting with commissioners April 17 in response to an attack on a Grays Harbor County sheriff’s deputy and judge at the courthouse in Montesano in March.
“If people want to continue to look at increased courthouse security, that’s fine,” Commissioner Mike Chapman said in a work session this week.
“I don’t mind the committee, but I don’t like setting up the fact that somehow we’ve not done enough,” he said Tuesday.
Chapman said he rejected the notion that security at the Clallam County Courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles is inadequate.
“This is a well-armed facility,” he said.
“Since 9/11, in the last decade, we’ve done a lot of things to increase courthouse security.”
According to the proposed resolution, the ad hoc committee would meet once a month to study public safety standards and discuss how to implement pay for enhanced security.
The committee would include representatives from Clallam County Superior Court as well as the district courts in Port Angeles and Forks.
Who to include
It also will have members of the county Parks, Fair and Facilities Department, Human Resources Department, Safety Committee, employee bargaining units, Sheriff’s Office, county bar association, the general public and the commissioner’s office.
Chapman said the Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services Facility also should be on the table.
The committee would do the following:
■ Establish how to implement security.
■ Develop costs for alterations to facilities.
■ Develop alternatives for use of personnel to perform functions.
■ Research funding alternatives, including grants.
■ Research the fiscal benefits of increased security, such as a reduction in liability insurance.
■ Develop a time line for the implementation of security options.
Chapman said the first item suggests that the Clallam County Courthouse lacks security.
“That’s just not true,” he said.
“We have great people, men and women, who are fully armed protecting this courthouse and this area of the city every day,” Chapman said.
“It’s called the sheriff’s department, corrections facility, city of Port Angeles Police Department, just down the road from Border Patrol,” he added.
“We have a lot of officers wandering through the courthouse. Washington State Patrol comes in here all the time. It’s probably one of the most protected facilities, if not the most protected facility, in Clallam County.”
Chapman suggested changing the word “implement” in the resolution as opposed to “enhance,” “augment” or “increase.”
Armed security deputy
Clallam County has one armed courtroom-courthouse security deputy who is responsible for patrolling the halls of the courthouse and keeping the peace in its courtrooms.
The jail and the Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services Facility in west Port Angeles have dozens of corrections officers and other staff members who secure those facilities and their detention units.
Clallam County uses a metal detector for high-profile Superior Court cases, but the two main entrances to the courthouse are not screened.
At the Grays Harbor County Courthouse, 34-year-old Steven Kravetz allegedly shot Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Deputy Polly Davin with her own gun, stabbed her twice, then wrestled with Judge Dave Edwards on March 9.
Davin and Edwards were not seriously hurt in the assault. Both have returned to work.
In response to that incident — as well as a lawsuit filed by Grays Harbor County judges — new metal detectors have been installed.
Commissioner Mike Doherty said some courthouses are so well-armed that citizens don’t feel welcome to do business with local government.
“Somehow, we’ve got to get a balance there,” he said.
Improve existing standards
Doherty said the committee should find ways to improve existing security standards to provide enhanced security at a lower cost.
He added that it would be cost-prohibitive to make alterations to the courthouse.
Chapman raised the concern that the committee would come up with a “long wish list that’s going to come with huge tax increases.”
Superior Court Judge Ken Williams addressed the three commissioners near the end of their 20-minute discussion on security issues.
“Nobody’s sat down and looked at this,” Williams said.
“So our intent was to give you, as decision-makers, ‘Here are the costs if we do certain things,’ and you get to decide whether we can afford them or not.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
