County council weighs in on courthouse security options

The Pulaski County Council was presented with some security options once the courthouse renovations are completed during a regular meeting on Monday, March 10. Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer started off by saying that security will be mostly a sheriff's office issue as staff positions will have to be created in their budget. Origer said that he did speak with Sheriff Chris Schramm and Matron Carrie Aaron before coming to the council. Once renovated, the courthouse will have a single point of public access on the north side of the basement. A small office for security has been included in what was once the front office of the assessor's office.

The first of three options he introduced was adding two or three security positions and station two people at the main courthouse entrance, similar to what we currently have the justice center. The second option is to leave the building unguarded and unlocked and hope that nothing happens.The third option is to leave the building unguarded and locked with personnel in the justice center controlling access. The responsibility could be assigned solely to dispatchers, who already manage after hours justice center access, or to the front desk security officers during business hours and to dispatchers only after hours.