An Opportunity for Sharing Best Practices
Judges and court staff from Grant, Hamilton, Jasper, Marion and Morgan counties participated in a two-day court security training session on June 14 and 15, 2011 connected via video conference to teams of their counterparts in the Maryland courts. The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the State Justice Institute (SJI) presented the training.
Personnel from the National Center for State Courts and the United States Marshals Service opened day one of the training with an introduction to best practices for court security and an orientation to courthouse security assessments. Representatives from both states then participated in a group discussion following the presentation. In the afternoon, attendees travelled to the Marion County courts to perform security assessments. Participants divided into teams and examined the courthouse exterior, courtrooms, lobby and waiting areas, and the judges’ chambers and administrative offices.
On day two, after morning presentations on threat assessments and incident reporting, the teams in Indiana and Maryland presented the results of the previous day’s security assessments. After an orientation on personal safety and problem solving in the afternoon, teams from each county then worked to develop action items for improvements to security in their courts. The team results were shared with all of the participants in Indiana and Maryland.
See the following link on the NCSC website for their Court Security Resource Guide:
www.ncsc.org/Topics/Courthouse-Facilities/Court-Security/Resource-Guide.aspx
For questions or follow-up please contact Bob Champion, Indiana Judicial Center, Security Advisor, at 317.232.1313 or [email protected].