OTTAWA The Ottawa courthouse is to undergo a major securityupgrade that will make it safer, but also more restrictive to thepublic. The upgrade, which is still in the planning stage, means that allvisitors will enter the courthouse through the main Elgin Streetentrance, where they will pass through a metal detector. And oncethe new system is in place, it s expected that the public will notbe able to enter from the side entrances on Laurier Avenue as theydo now. Courthouse staff, including lawyers, judges and other personnelwill carry ID tags and will be able to move freely in and out ofthe building.
The new security measures could be in place some timenext year after the Ministry of the Ontario Attorney Generalfinalizes the budget for the project. The security upgrade at the courthouse is long overdue, said OttawaPolice Supt. Mike Flanagan. Under the Police Services Act,municipal police service boards are responsible for court securityservices. This building is 26 years old and it requires upgrades, saidFlanagan, adding that while improvements are needed he stillconsiders it a safe building.
Ideally, we would like to restrict access. We are looking at onepoint of entry because we have determined that there are some areasof vulnerability that we want to reduce, he said. Flanagan stressed the new measures were not prompted by a breach ofsecurity at the courthouse, but more of a willingness to bringsecurity in line with other courthouses in the province. He saidthere hasn t been a security problem at the courthouse in morethan 15 years. He said the building is multi-jurisdictional, serving the needsof the public, magistrates, lawyers and social service agencies,and includes family, criminal and civil courts in addition to thefamily law library, which the public can access.
In the criminal courts, you have what some may deem to be notyour best-behaved people at more or less their best behaviour andthere is a risk assessment associated to that. In family courts,sometimes you have everyday joes that might be at their worstbehaviour because of the situation they re in. So, we take thatall into perspective here and how we will enhance security here, Flanagan said. Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the attorney general, saidcurrently 23 courthouses in the province have magnetometers(walk-through metal detectors) that are operated by local policeforces.
He added that the operation of magnetometers is done at thediscretion of local police services. Upgrading security measures have been ongoing in the past severalyears. Further details of the security upgrade at the Ottawacourthouse are unavailable at this time as the ministry is still inthe planning stages of this project, Crawley said in an emailresponse. He said as part of its responsibility for local court operations,the ministry covers capital costs related to the implementation ofsecurity measures, such as the installation of magnetometers.
Thebudget for the planned security upgrades at the Ottawa courthousehas not been determined yet, he said.
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