Justice minister rejects calls for courthouse security
Posted Mar 12, 2010 05:43:56 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The justice minister says Nova Scotia’s courthouses are safe and there’s no need to increase security by adding metal detectors.
Crown attorneys say it was just good luck that no one in the dust-up at Dartmouth Provincial Court was carrying a weapon, because visitors weren’t being screened before walking in.
They want a permanent metal detector in Dartmouth, like the one in Halifax Provincial Court on Spring Garden Road.
But Justice Minister Ross Landry says security is sufficient.
“I certainly hope that no one gets hurt in our community, but the reality is we’re dealing with the human elements and conflicts occur,” he said. “The speculation that someone may get hurt in the future would be a poor way to make decisions. If we had evidence to support that, that would be a different issue.”
Landry says the cost of adding metal detectors in provincial courthouses would be “astronomical,” and says, if courthouse staff know that weapons may be an issue they can always move the court case to Halifax to take advantage of the security measures there.
But the head of the Crown Attorneys’ Association tells the Herald they’re forced to deal with the worst elements of society on a daily basis. Rick Woodburn says he knows there’s a money issue, but says he’s afraid someone is going to get killed if security isn’t improved.
Landry says he’s convinced it’s not necessary.
“I would really like that Crown Prosecutor to put his position in writing and give me some examples of how he sees that to be hypothetical about something that could happen in the future,” he said.
More than 1300 weapons and personal items were seized by security staff at the Halifax court in a one year period.
