Du Page County Sheriff Richard P. Doria and County Board Chairman Aldo Botti have reached a compromise on security staffing in the new courthouse that meets minimum security needs but doesn`t break the budget, the two officials have announced.
Botti will ask the County Board to approve the hiring of seven officers who will work in courthouse and courtroom security, transportation of prisoners and jail guard duty. The seven added officers will bring to 17 the number of extra courthouse security personnel who will be hired for duty in the new courthouse.
Doria had sought a minimum of 22 additional people, and had also suggested that up to 60 could be used, depending on the level of security and the number of hours the building would be open to the public daily.
However, Doria agreed, with reservations, to the total of 17 in discussions with Botti last week, according to an announcement from Botti`s office. Botti was out of town at a conference Monday.
”Am I satisfied? No,” Doria said in an interview Monday. ”Is it workable? Yes. Is it a compromise? Yes.”
The additional seven will enable the sheriff to operate the four metal detectors installed on the first floor of the $53 million building, which opens for court business on Tuesday.
”But my relief factor isn`t there. (Security employees) get vacation time. They get sick. If we`re short-staffed, we`ll have to shut down one of the metal detectors. It`ll mean a slowdown for people entering the building,” Doria said.
Doria said the metal detectors probably won`t be in operation until September. It will take that long to hire and train the new officers, he said. County Board member Michael Formento, chairman of the Judicial/Public Safety Committee, said the recommendation for seven new security employees will come through his committee and the Finance Committee Tuesday. If the recommendation is approved by the committee, it will be presented to the County Board on Tuesday.
Formento`s committee has previously approved 10 more security positions, and he said he expects approval of the 7 new ones.
”My feeling is that there will be support for 17 at the committee level. . . . I do not expect the vote to be unanimous. The votes have not been unanimous in the past. Now it`s a matter of whether there`s enough support,” Formento said.
He said each security officer costs the county about $40,000 per year in salary, training and benefits.
On Monday, the president of the Du Page County Bar Association held a press conference to urge the hiring of enough deputies to operate metal detectors.
”We are deeply concerned as lawyers who represent individuals and citizens of this county that security in the new courthouse is inadequate,”
said John B. Kincaid. ”We as a county may be penny-wise and pound-foolish not to fund the sheriff`s request (for staffing).”
He added that there have been incidents of violence in the old courthouse in downtown Wheaton, including a shooting two years ago.
”We`re living on borrowed time. All over the country there have been situations in courthouses. . . . In Du Page County a knife was used to convince a wife to come to terms in a child custody case. I don`t know how many warnings we need,” Kincaid said.
Doria said the proposed hirings will give him a total of 66 employees to handle courthouse security and transportation of prisoners, including 43 courtroom bailiffs (2 in each criminal courtroom, 1 in each civil courtroom); 11 on the building`s first floor, including the metal detectors; 2 in the master control center; 4 to move prisoners between the jail and the courtroom; and 6 to transport prisoners to other locations, such as courts in other counties.
