Discussion continues on Cerro Gordo County Courthouse security policies

MASON CITY — Cerro Gordo County officials will soon have an updated policy in place regarding courthouse security.

The county recently upgraded the front entry to the courthouse, with the new entry having four double doors, with two sets of doors leading inside and two others outside. A metal detector has been installed inside the entry as part of the security improvements to help with the growing problem of detecting weapons, but the county must have policies and procedures in place.

During a workshop session held involving the county supervisors, county attorney Carlyle Dalen says the policy would help to provide a safer workplace.  “Prohibited items include firearms, knives or any other weapons, including items that could be used as a weapon as determined by the Sheriff’s Office. I think that’s important because sometimes there might be something that whomever is monitoring up front says ‘hey, I don’t know if it’s a weapon or not, but let me just put it off here to the side and pick it up when you come back through’, so I think they should have discretion there. In an effort to expedite the screening process, please only bring required or necessary items with you into the courthouse.”

While the metal detector is operating currently in the entry, no enforcement is being made since no policy is in place, and some are questioning the effectiveness of the detector.

Sheriff David Hepperly says with running tests and working with a technical supervisor from the company the detector was purchased from, he believes the machine is working properly. “I have to be honest with you. You have deputies that are thinking ‘I’m going to have to be running this all day’. It’s going to be a new deal for them. We’re going to have a policy put in place, it’s going to be a position where one of my employees is going to have to be at that front entrance all day. I think there’s part of the pushback. A deputy that I visited with yesterday said that machine is working a heck of a lot better than it ever had up until this point. The feedback I’m getting is that the machine is working. Is it working at 100%? Probably not.”

Among the other questions to be settled on is whether the general public will or will not be able to bring backpacks or other bags into the courthouse.

Dalen and Hepperly will work together to finalize a potential policy and bring it back to the supervisors in the near future.