Despite a security budget that increased four-fold over the last eight years, X-ray and scanning stations at the Macon County Courthouse’s public entry points are only staffed on a limited basis.
“The X-ray and scanning equipment are being used on high volume days, periodically; regular usage is limited due to staff shortages,” Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks said.
X-ray and scanning equipment are located on both the second and third floor public entrances to the courthouse. Funding for both stations, at a cost of $82,502, was approved in April 2019. According to Holbrooks, the equipment was installed on Nov. 6, 2019.
“Staff were trained on how to use the new equipment in the following months,” Holbrooks said.
In addition to the equipment, two positions were added to the courthouse security’s 2018-19 fiscal year budget halfway through the year and four more were included in the 2019-20 fiscal year budget. All six positions were to cost $289,573 in salary and benefits.
Courthouse security upgrades were made following the recommendations from the Courthouse Security Committee led by Resident Superior Court Judge William H. Coward and then-Sheriff Robert Holland. Before becoming sheriff in December 2022, Holbrooks served a dozen years in charge of courthouse security as part of the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
Like the jail, courthouse security is funded in the Macon County budget as its own division, separate from the rest of the MCSO.
The courthouse security budget has increased over the last few years, due to the increased number of employees, increases in overtime, benefits and disability. In 2015-16, the courthouse security division spent $177,525.21 out of its $196,956 budget. Six years later, the department spent $550,669.05 out of its $861,868 budget in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
This current fiscal year, the courthouse security division received a $939,983 budget, its biggest ever. Most of that is designated for salaries: $568,676 for full-time salaries and $5,253 for part-time salaries. This follows the county’s November 2021 pay study implementation, which resulted in a $2.365 million bump in the county’s total salary pool.
While the courthouse security budget has jumped up comparatively in recent years, the $939,983 budgeted amount this year is 1.59% of the $59.047 million budget. The jail/law enforcement center received $2.893 million and MCSO got $5.662 million.
Utilizing X-ray and scanning equipment at county courthouses has become more common in recent years in North Carolina as safety becomes a prevailing focus.
“There were also cameras added to the building for increased security,” Holbrooks said when asked about how courthouse security has evolved in the last five years. “We limited access to enter and the U.S Marshals conducted a site survey for security.”
Holbrooks said recently, a secured sally port (fenced-in entrance) was added for inmate transport and in general, security upgrades are occurring.
“There has been lots of positive changes that have happened at the courthouse in the past five years,” Holbrooks said.
The 2019-20 fiscal year budget stated that starting that year, three officers would be stationed at each of the security checkpoints. However, lack of personnel means that the security is more spread out.
“At this time, the officers that work inside the courthouse have designated areas of coverage,” Holbrooks said. “There are two officers that are assigned to the courtroom(s); running the metal detectors and handling the court process. There are also two officers that oversee the civil division, serving all pre- and post-judgements, incompetence hearings, subpoenas, etc.”
Holbrooks said he would like to see the two public entry points staffed so that the X-ray and scanning equipment can be used daily.
“In the future, when properly staffed, I would like to see the civil division and courthouse security two separate units,” Holbrooks said. ‘One unit supervisor to oversee and manage courthouse security.”
Judge Coward concurred with Sheriff Holbrooks’ assessment of courthouse security. “I was in constant communication with former Sheriff Holland, and I will continue the dialogue with Sheriff Holbrooks and the County Commissioners as time allows,” Coward stated. “The sheriff and many other interested department heads spent a huge amount of time with this project in the pre-COVID days. Those efforts should be a foundation for renewed attention to this subject.”