Statehouse security: making our capitols safe requires a balance between security measures and easy access.

AuthorBoulard, Garry

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When Scott Renfroe visited the Colorado Capitol before his election as a state senator in 2006, a highpoint was always entering the ornate 1890s building through its grand front doors.

"Looking up high and seeing that gold dome with the flags flying around it was really very exciting," says Renfroe. "And then to walk up the front steps and go inside without anyone questioning you about why you were there made you feel that the government was accessible to anyone. That's the way it should be."

But that kind of open access may soon be over. In early September, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced a proposal that would require visitors to enter the building through only the side entrances where X-ray machines, magnetometers and a detail of security officers would be in full use.

Ritter also proposes beefing up the Colorado State Police security detail in the statehouse as well as installing an X-ray machine and magnetometer inside the Legislative Services Building, which is nearby the Capitol.

"The governor's recommendations are in response to ongoing security concerns," says Captain Mike Savage, a spokesman for the Colorado State Police. "It's an ongoing process designed to make the statehouse as safe as possible for both the people who work here as well as the many who visit."

Security concerns were exacerbated this summer when a 32-year-old man entered the Colorado Capitol and Ritter's office with a loaded .357-caliber pistol and a knife, declaring: "I am the emperor and I am here to take over state government." Aaron Snyder was in the process of being escorted by a state trooper out of Ritter's office when he revealed the handgun beneath his coat and moved toward the officer. Ignoring two warnings to stop, Snyder was shot twice and killed.

In the aftermath of that incident, metal detectors, installed after 9/11 but dismantled within the year because lawmakers and visitors said they inhibited access to the Capitol, were re-installed.

SECURITY VS. ACCESS

Such decisions, says Tony Beard, chief sergeant-at-arms of the California Senate and a recognized authority on statehouse security, represent an ongoing debate among lawmakers across the country. What is the most efficient way to make public buildings safe? When is security, in a nation accustomed to government access, too much?

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"It is obviously a delicate balance that each state has to maintain," says Beard. In his several decades handling security at the California Capitol he has seen everything from bomb threats, medical emergencies, a hostage-taking to a shoot-out in the basement.

"For us," Beard says, "the debate centers on how to convince lawmakers that equipment like magnetometers is not designed to inhibit or stop people from coming into the building. It is there to enhance the safety of the people who work in and visit the...

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