Augusta Georgia: Sept 11:Attacks speeded fortifications 09/11/02

Attacks speeded fortifications

Web posted Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Have a thought? Go to the Forums or Chat.

Marshal's Department Deputy Lamar White watches the screen on an X-ray machine as people enter the security check at the municipal building. Security tightened in February. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/FILE

The tightened security at the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building might have been the most obvious sign of change in Augusta after the terrorist attacks. But plans for weapons-detection machines and X-ray machines had been in the works for years, said Civil Court Marshal Steve Smith.

"My opinion is that commissioners were hesitant about appropriating the money to secure this building," Marshal Smith said. "They were concerned about taxpayers saying, 'Why are you spending so much money to secure the courthouse?' But then after Sept. 11, it made it easier for them to make that decision because there was a lot more concern by the public, and the public became aware of the possibility of violence against a government building."

Still, the building's added security is not designed to prevent a terrorist attack, he said. It is intended to keep an angry employee or a participant in a heated civil trial from committing acts of violence.

"If you are talking about a calculated terrorist attack, I don't know that there is any way, short of intelligence, that could stop something like that," Marshal Smith said.

Click on the graphic for a larger version of the five levels of terrorism alerts as announced by the Office of Homeland Security. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Security changes began in February. Visitors are required to enter through the front instead of using the back entrance near the parking lot. Once inside, they must pass through a metal detector and have their bags or briefcases scanned by an X-ray machine. There are also four cameras used to monitor the building, including the back entrance, where judges enter.

In the coming months, officials are proposing even more security changes to the municipal building and to the Law Enforcement Center at 401 Walton Way. Marshal Smith wants more cameras to watch the outside of the municipal building and inside the commission chambers.

At the Law Enforcement Center, Marshal Smith wants to make visitors enter through one secured door and have them pass through metal detectors.

"I don't know that it's being overly cautious," Marshal Smith said. "I would probably say it's being cautious."

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (706) 828-3851 or greg.rickabaugh@augustachronicle.com.