SECURITY AT COURTHOUSE IS A GRIM SIGN OF TIMES

page 8a saturday editorial

Cape Girardeau has had a Federal Building (now in its second incarnation) since 1910. While the current structure at 339 Broadway was dedicated in 1968, its operation reflects the 1990s, or at least a troublesome aspect of this decade. Anyone entering the Federal Building must pass through a security screening. While terrorist activity might seem far removed from Cape Girardeau, these year-old measures are a reflection of the times and a reminder that the scales of justice find their balance by countering a dark side of human nature.

The security procedure, similar to commonplace screenings in airports, was put into place in October 1991, a move required by the location of a full-time U.S. magistrate at the facility. In the early going, the X-ray equipment and metal detector spawned a good deal of exasperation, since people entering the building to visit Social Security or Internal Revenue Service offices must likewise empty their pockets and step a certain way; any break in routine can unsettle steady customers. In addition, the presence of so much high-tech protection may have fetched its share of rolled eyes; why would Cape Girardeau need such precautions?

Courtrooms are places where people's lives are affected and passions often run high. The presence of firearms and other weapons is not condusive to a safe judicial atmosphere. (In a Clayton courthouse, where a man killed his wife and wounded some attorneys in a shooting spawned by a heated divorce case, such security features would have been welcomed ... and, indeed, now have been added.) And while Cape Girardeau hosts no trials for urban mobsters, the security system offered considerable comfort in the court proceedings this year of a Southeast Missouri gang known for drug distribution and automatic weapons. In fact, a security officer was able to relieve one visitor to that trial of a handcuff key he had sewn into his clothing.

While not in the cinematic mafioso sense, this is organized crime, particularly where drug networks are concerned. With more federal court proceedings coming to Cape Girardeau and the location of a U.S. attorney's satellite office in the city, the security is necessary for the safety of all involved in Federal Building activities.

The question to be answered is whether the public, which pays for the federal services available in this building, is being unnecessarily inconvenienced by the screening process. In the discussion stage now are plans to evaluate whether Cape Girardeau needs additional space for its federal offices; a part of this discussion is whether the judicial portion of these services can be segregated in such a way that not all people must pass through the security system. Our support for a growing federal operation here (and its accompanying expenditures) is not enthusiastic, but such expansion might ultimately be necessary.

Above all, we observe the mechanics of security as a necessary evil of the times. The people on the job at the front doors of the Federal Building are in place for the protection of those who work there and the governmental process they represent. A few seconds of inconvenience seems a small price to pay for safety.