Increase in court security urged Saufley seeks funds for entry screening

AUGUSTA – A lawyer for the elderly told legislators Monday that it is only a matter of time before someone uses a weapon inside a Maine courthouse to hurt or kill somebody unless security measures are tightened.

Leo Delicata of Legal Services for the Elderly urged the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee to add entry security screening funding to Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed two-year budget.

Leigh Saufley, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, told the committee Monday the money to hire people for entry security screening as well as money to make other court improvements had been included in the budget for the judicial branch, but because of a “glitch” in a new budget format that part of the budget never made it into the governor’s spending plan.

Saufley, who spoke before the committee about the need to improve court services and safety in the courthouses, urged the committee to include the funding request.

The state is at the “bottom of the [nation’s] barrel” in terms of security screening in courthouses, Saufley said.

To improve that statistic, the judicial branch included in its budget proposal $2.1 million for 20 entry security screening positions in 2008 and 20 more positions in 2009. Saufley said the need to hire entry security screeners is necessary because the state’s sheriffs’ departments, which have provided the service, are struggling to meet the court’s demands.

Delicata reminded the committee that Maine residents approved a $540,000 bond in 2002 for the purchase of screening equipment, which is now collecting dust because of the lack of money to staff the equipment.

“There is no doubt that our courthouses are unsafe,” said Delicata, one of several people who spoke Monday in support of the request to improve safety. “The conscious decision not to fund the people to operate these voter approved screening devices is an unwise gamble.”

Saufley also encouraged the committee to include $117,003 for the addition of a chief information officer similar to the Department of Public Safety’s spokesman; $79,170 for a multicultural access coordinator to make sure all people get access to justice; $69,170 for a family drug treatment coordinator to monitor the operation of the three Family Drug Courts; and $511,875 in fiscal year 2009 for the debt service payment on a proposed courthouse in Dover-Foxcroft and renovation of the Houlton courthouse – all of which also were omitted from the governor’s proposed budget.

In addition, Saufley said, there were no capital expenditures budgeted for the judicial branch.

“I think this is just a mistake in the way the budget was developed,” she said, seeking that funding as well. She said 17 courthouses are owned by counties and the others are leased or owned by the state. (Some counties have more than one courthouse.)

Since it pays no rent to counties, the state helps to upgrade these facilities, she said.

There are two key issues in courthouses around the state: their condition and accessibility, Saufley said. As examples of those two conditions, she said, several of the courthouses have crumbling steps while others have physical accessibility issues.

As for the Dover-Foxcroft and Houlton projects, the judicial branch plans to seek authority to issue $12 million in bonds.

“It’s time for the Dover-Foxcroft building to be fixed,” said Saufley of a project that has been discussed for about eight years.

She called the district courthouse, a former home, the “worst” in the state. The office is in a former kitchen, the courtroom is small, and there is no place to do entry screening unless it is on the porch outside, she explained.

The new courthouse will be the first to be done after completion of the new state courthouse in Bangor.

The latter courthouse may be reconfigured to accommodate the District Attorney’s Office, Saufley said.

She said it was her initial understanding that the district attorney wanted an “away” office, but that has now changed. Since the district attorney is looking for about 10,000 square feet, there may be a need to redesign the footprint of the building, she said. It is hoped that the Bangor courthouse will be open by summer 2009.

As for the Houlton courthouse, there was an internal flood and it essentially collapsed, according to Saufley. She said court is being held temporarily in a city building.

The next two courthouses on the “runway” for funding in the future are for Kennebec and Washington counties, Saufley said.

A member of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, said Monday she believed it was time the Appropriations Committee and the state recognized the court’s needs.