Court security at issue

Convinced that security provisions at the Spartanburg County courthouse are inadequate, Clerk of Court Marc Kitchens today will unveil two formal proposals for changes.

Each of the proposals Kitchens will present to the Spartanburg County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee at noon call for termination of the county's $90,302 annual contract with Carolina Security Service Inc. of Spartanburg, which provides five full-time and one part-time guard to man checkpoints at doors in the courthouse.

One proposal, developed by Jail Director Larry Powers at Kitchens' request, would replace the paid security guards with a combination of jail officers and sheriff's deputies from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., the courthouse's weekday operating hours. The other proposal, developed by Sheriff Bill Coffey, would put deputies exclusively at the checkpoints.

The Sheriff's Office already provides 10 full-time deputies and a supervisor for courtroom security, as required by law. The jail provides five detention officers to transport inmates for court appearances and for security for Magistrate Court courtrooms.

Coffey declined through a spokesman to comment on his plan, saying elected officials should hear about it from him first. Powers also declined to comment.

The problem, Kitchens said, is that Carolina Security's guards are not certified law enforcement officers.

"With either of these new proposed plans, we would have a certified law enforcement officer on every door whenever the courthouse is open," he said.

Privately, many attorneys and criminal justice agency employees who frequent the courthouse express a lack of confidence that Carolina Security's guards -- most of whom are elderly or in questionable physical condition -- would be capable of dealing effectively with security threats of a physical nature.

Kitchens mentioned a recent incident in which a 69-year-old female security guard lost a gun she had last seen after removing it in a courthouse restroom. Last week, an unidentified man defecated in a courthouse hallway before running away, according to witnesses.

Kitchens said such incidents are less likely to occur with uniformed law officers handling security.

Nicholas Parris, Carolina Security's president, did not return two telephone messages about the proposed termination of his company's contract.

Assistant County Administrator Glenn Breed said both proposed plans are more expensive than the county's $90,000 contract with Carolina Security, though he declined to provide specific price tags until today's meeting.

Breed and County Administrator Jim Hartmann agreed that ultimately it would be County Council's decision whether the increased security is worth the increased cost.

But Chief Magistrate Robert B. Hall said the courthouse's security problems run deeper than a few questionable security guards.

"There are employee doors that people can walk in and out of with no one checking them," Hall said. "They can slide in when no one's looking.

"I've caught jurors on smoke breaks outside employee doors, holding the doors open, and people are walking in and out. Access to the courthouse is a lot more available than maybe it should be."

On other occasions, Hall said, doors that are usually manned are vulnerable because of a shortage of security guards on a given day or because the doors have been locked after 5 p.m.

"Someone from upstairs leaves, and someone from outside can slide in," he said.

Hall said the answer is for employees to be more vigilant about the courthouse's doors and for the county to make improvements to the doors, perhaps including advanced security systems.

Kitchens said such improvements are in the future but are not immediate options for budgetary reasons.

But Hall warned that courthouses are perhaps at greater risk than other governmental buildings.

"There's people out there with evil hearts," he said. "We're a courthouse; sometimes people aren't happy with us, you know."