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LAKE COUNTY – If you've visited either courthouse in Lake County recently, you likely passed through a security screening system meant to ensure the safety of the buildings and their inhabitants.
Since Judge Arthur Mann signed an order requiring airport-type security screening as of May 28, screening visitors has been a part of the daily routine at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport. Screening was enacted at the south county courthouse in Clearlake in the summer of 2007.
Assistant Court Executive Officer Kip Rodda said court officials are pleased with the additional security that the screening brings to the facility and the cooperation of other courthouse users.
Courthouse visitors also are learning what they can and can't have when entering the courthouse, Rodda noted.
The September report on court security operations, which Rodda provided to Lake County News, shows that so far this year there have been 112,069 persons screened between the two courthouses, 74,510 at Lakeport since May and 37,559 for Clearlake since the start of the year.
Approximately 20,880 people were screened at both courthouses in September alone, the report notes.
Weapons such as guns are a primary target for screeners, but only five guns have been found so far this year, and none were confiscated. One was noted in the September report for the Lakeport courthouse. There also have been seven bullets, one of which was taken, this year.
More prevalent have been items such as pepper spray or mace, with 26 found and three confiscated this year so far.
The most common items found that violates court security rules are knives. The report notes that 1,612 have been discovered this year, 180 of them at Lakeport in September. Year-to-date, only 90 have been confiscated; in many cases visitors may keep the items if they agree to remove them from the courthouse.
Other items that will set off the security alarms are chains over a foot in length (171 of those have been found so far this year and seven confiscated), multi-tools (170 found, 10 confiscated), razor blades (71 found, 19 confiscated) and more mundane items including scissors, laser pointers, glass containers, knitting needles, nail files and safety pins.
In an interesting bit of trivia, 84 handcuff keys have been found year-to-date and 11 of them confiscated. There have not, however, been any handcuffs found or confiscated at either courthouse.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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