COURTHOUSE TO STEP UP SECURITY; COUNTY RESPONDS TO PARKING LOT ATTACK WITH CALL FOR ADDED STAFF, EQUIPMENT.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer Pending completion of a project to install metal detectors and X-ray machines at the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley courthouse, county officials want to get more staffing to use hand-held metal detector wands in the interim. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
``We are trying to see if we can get more deputies or security officers on overtime to use those wands,'' said Lori Howard, assistant chief deputy to Antonovich. ``We want to get more overtime authorized to use the metal detector wands.'' The board action follows an incident at the courthouse in which a 17-year-old boy was stabbed in the courthouse parking lot in what sheriff's deputies described as an encounter between rival gangs. Deputies said rival gang members began yelling and making gang signs after leaving a courtroom, and it escalated into a fight. Work already has begun on installing a metal detector and X-ray machine at the main entrance of the 36-year-old courthouse. The work is scheduled to be completed in early May. Plans call for the main courthouse building's north entrance to be manned by security officers. The building's three other public entrances will be closed. The $75,000 plan also calls for closed-circuit televisions, door alarms, a ramp to provide handicapped access and new entrance doors. No provisions have been made for the courthouse annex, juvenile court juvenile court Special court handling problems of delinquent, neglected, or abused children. Two types of cases are processed by a juvenile court: civil matters, often concerning care of an abandoned or impoverished child, and criminal matters, arising from antisocial or juror juror n. any person who actually serves on a jury. Lists of potential jurors are chosen from various sources such as registered voters, automobile registration or telephone directories. assembly building. The metal detector and X-ray machine were purchased several years ago, court officials said. There was funding to buy the equipment but no money for the building renovations or to pay for staffing, court officials said. Annual staffing costs will include $190,000 for two armed security officers and three unarmed security assistants hired and trained by the Sheriff's Department. They will man the weapons screening equipment and perform patrols around the courthouse, deputies said. The Antelope Valley courthouse was described as a security risk three years ago. In February 1996, county supervisors approved the development of plans to improve security at the Antelope Valley courthouse as well as court facilities in Burbank, Torrance, Norwalk and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . That action came after a January 1996 escape from the Lancaster courthouse of a jail inmate who slipped out of handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. on a jail bus and bolted from authorities. Five months later, the open sally port sally port n. A gate in a fortification designed for sorties. where deputies unload jail inmates from buses was enclosed with a chain-link fence. |
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