MOULTRIE, Ga. —  Roughly six weeks ago, three Southern Judicial Circuit judges came to a work session of the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners to encourage them to better secure the county Courthouse and Courthouse Annex.

At a work session Tuesday night, their request began to bear fruit.

County Administrator Chas Cannon presented two lists of proposed improvements that would help make the buildings safer. One list was described as “near-term” while the other was described as “mid-term.”

Cannon said the near-term list contained items that can be completed in 12-18 months while the mid-term list were items that would take a few years. He said a few of the proposals would cost less than $5,000, so he’d be able to approve them on his own authority; most, though, would be more expensive than that and would be handled through the county’s normal procurement process, which would include approval of purchases by the County Commission.

Near-term

Near-term upgrades include:

• Install a new wall pack light over the entrance to the alley north of the Courthouse Annex.

• Install security film to all ground level and basement windows and glass doors as well as to the Superior Court lobby entrance.

• Install updated motion sensor security and camera system at both the Annex and the Courthouse, including both interior and exterior coverage. 

• Install updated camera system in the courtrooms at the Annex and the Courthouse.

• Bring the metal detectors forward on the third floor of the Courthouse to be flush with the elevator so that anyone entering the third floor must pass through them. They’re currently in front of the courtroom doors so someone with a gun could exit the elevator and loiter outside the courtroom without passing through the detectors.

• Use K-9 working dogs to clear the courtroom floors at both the Annex and Courthouse on the day of hearings or at random times.

• Secure the stairwell doors on the third floor of the Courthouse during court.

• Funnel traffic into the Annex courtroom through the door that opens into the parking lot, where deputies would operate a metal detector. Other accesses to that courtroom will be secured.

• Install panic alarms on the judge’s bench in both the Annex and Courthouse courtrooms (or have them personally worn by the judges).

• Install sensor-only light switches in the Annex and Courthouse courtroom areas.

• Extend intercom entrance to outside the hallway door in the Superior Court Office.

• Upgrade the courtroom at the county jail. 

Mid-term

Mid-term upgrades include:

• Install a keyless access control system to non-public access doors for employees and cleared staff.

• Build out the third floor of the Annex building — which is almost unused — and move all county staff from the Courthouse to the Annex. This would include the Clerk of Court’s Office, the Probate Judge’s Office and other offices. The county would have to relocate items that are currently stored there, including the county’s voting machines.

• Expand the rear entrance of the Annex to include a security screening area.

• Modify the front entrance of the Annex to include a security screening area.

• Both front and rear entrances would be secured by two sheriff’s deputies, who would also perform building security checks prior to opening and after closing.

• Incorporate additional parking areas around the Annex.

Judges’ concerns

On Sept. 22, Superior Court Chief Judge Richard Cowart and Judges Brian McDaniel and James Hardy spoke with the County Commission about their concerns for security in their courtrooms, but it was hardly the first time the issue had surfaced. In 2005 then-Chief Judge Arthur McLane led the charge for better courthouse security across the circuit following a deadly shooting at the Fulton County Courthouse. An Observer story from 2007 reported his efforts led to an x-ray machine, an in-house metal detector and the replacement of wooden holding cell doors with metal ones; the courthouse doors were fortified; and county commissioners approved the purchase of tasers and new leg irons. 

Other improvements that were called for in 2007 were estimated at more than $470,000, including salaries for four deputies to man the security equipment at the courthouse. It isn’t clear how much of the 2007 proposal was ever funded.

But Cowart, McDaniel and Hardy pressed their case to commissioners again this year. 

“We’re not here to tell you what to do,” Cowart assured the commission. “We’re here to be a resource, but something needs to be done. … I’ve been doing this a long time and people are way crazier than they used to be. They’re younger and they’ve all got guns.”

The Colquitt County Courthouse — like many across South Georgia — was designed to facilitate public access. It has four doors to the first floor, plus an additional door for handicapped access that goes directly to the elevator. Cowart suggested closing all but one door and placing a metal detector at it, manned by two sheriff’s deputies.

County Commissioner Al Whittington — who, as sheriff, proposed the 2007 security plan — recalled some resistance when they tried that back then.

“When Judge Mac was here we closed three doors (at the courthouse) and I caught double-barreled hell from the attorneys,” Whittington said.

Nonetheless, he was among the most vocal commissioners in support of the judges’ requests.

McDaniel, who was Colquitt County’s chief assistant district attorney before being elected to the bench in 2014, said he’d had to call police three times to remove someone from his office who he said shouldn’t have been able to get there. 

“You don’t know who’s in this building right now,” McDaniel told the commissioners — a comment that may be linked to the proposed security sweeps by deputies and K-9 dogs on Cannon’s list of upgrades.

McDaniel himself committed a security breach without consequence, he said. He had won a .22-caliber rifle in a raffle and didn’t want to leave it in his car. He said he made it all the way from his car to his office without even seeing another person, let alone being challenged for carrying the gun.

“I live here,” he said. “This is my tax money too. I don’t want you to waste it, either.”

Sheriff Rod Howell expressed concerns about staffing. He estimated he’d need six deputies assigned to the courthouse; he didn’t say how many he would need to secure the annex.