29 September 2008

Courts as fortresses

| johnboy
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Simon Corbell has announced that a security upgrade at the courts has come into effect today. So our learned friends will need to allow more time to get in and out while they pass through the metal detectors and get their bags x-rayed.

Apparently it’s not due to any rise in violence in our courts, just keeping up with national standards.

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Ahh and then the secure zones will offer transferable vetting.

You’ll either be “secured” and able to move freely or not.

Lovely.

I dont get it……..The courts are now much safer than our airports. A complete waste of money, unless of course the magistrates intend on putting crooks in jail, in which case it would make sense.

I wonder when we are going to get these security measures for shopping centres, supermarkets.

the court’s new sercutiy system is a joke and a half i went through the metal detector several times today beeped everytime but they told me it’s ok it’s just your SHOES as i was wearing high heals sorry but a joke i could have had any thing consealed on me and they didn’t bother to check again a joke

The Courts here have been easier to get into than a public toilet, ironic given how many people appear in the Magistrates Court for public urination! Every time I’ve been to them, I’ve not seen any armed security in or around the buildings. It’s would only be a matter of time before some crim comes back to get back at a judge or a witness is attacked in the foyer. Seems quite sensible to me.

thanks for the heads up i have to attend court tomorrow supporting a friend and i always get in sh*t for have a pocket swiss army thing in my bag!!!!

No Thumper sorry I wasn’t. Tuesday night I don’t know where I was and Thursday night I was in SYdney. But hope to see you soon!!

I have a counsellor through VOCAL so maybe I am luckier than most. I also made sure I got there much earlier than these people so that I didn’t have to see them.

Thumper, you were at The Front on Thursday. Tuesday you were at Filthy’s. Getting old and forgetful matey?

How things change. I remember when they first built those new courts, and added some lovely sculptural garden art: fist-sized tumbled stones in the garden-bed things.

Eventually they realised the error of this and, I can’t remember, they either glued them down or put mesh over them.

swamiOFswank7:44 pm 29 Sep 08

Hey scooter…I’m glad things worked out for you that way, but it’s not always the case. I was supporting a woman applying for a personal protection order (AVO) against a male who had threatened to kill her (and quite a history of acting out violently). We were made to sit and wait in an enclosed area not bigger than my loungeroom with him and his family staring us down, talking and staring – frightening intimidation tactics. We suffered this for close to an hour before I’d had enough and made a complaint to a court officer about it. We were then allowed to sit elsewhere away from them, but received no other assistance or…god forbid, compassion or understanding.

I agree that the courts had an amazing lack of security.

There are other ways out, however. A number of fire escapes, plus the loading dock in the back if you ask the security guards nicely.

From my recent experience, as long as you the victim get there ealier, you are placed in a room and do not even have to see the offenders until you present at court.

That in itself provides a good deal more of a feeling fo safety than anything else, but these new measures will also help.

Oyour god, Simon did something right!

Deadmandrinking5:06 pm 29 Sep 08

p1 said :

Nothing quite matches the feeling you get when you realise that the reporters and camera men waiting out side the court are there to film you…

Or when they’re not and they’re training their camera on you when you’re nipping outside for a smoke. A family member of mine who works there experiences this sometimes.

fhakk said :

There’s only going to be one entrance/escape route out of the Magistrates Court, with plans to close the back entrance facing Vernon Circle.

This situation would be ideal if, not just the media, but _anyone_ wanted to target a victim, offender, witness, or court employee.

The hunting term for a situation with one way in and one way out is ‘a trap’.

Nothing quite matches the feeling you get when you realise that the reporters and camera men waiting out side the court are there to film you…

The media should be pretty happy about the new arrangements as well – There’s only going to be one entrance/escape route out of the Magistrates Court, with plans to close the back entrance facing Vernon Circle. Many a time have journos been forced to stake out both exits, running like mad when a Person of Interest attempts to flee.

regularbrowse12:34 pm 29 Sep 08

At last! The new security measures are great for the staff at court buildings and all the people who go there for cases (everyone from victims to witnesses and even lawyers).

Anyone who has ever attended the Magistrates Court on the days when family domestic violence matters are heard will understand the value of having metal detectors installed. On those days you have a waiting room full of people who think violence is an acceptable way to communicate or respond to anything they don’t like. And their victims have to wait in the same area too.

Courts are a natural target of violence.
It was only a matter of time before someone hijacked one, and flew it into a skyscraper.

As sound a reason as any…

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