After standoff, courthouse examines ‘long-brewing security problems’

EVERETT — Seventeen years.

That’s how long it’s been since the last formal assessment of safety was conducted for the Snohomish County Courthouse in Everett.

Last month’s hours-long standoff in the courthouse lobby has put security top of mind, Superior Court Presiding Judge George Appel told a county council committee this week. He called the day of the standoff, Dec. 12, the “day where we narrowly avoided a tragedy.”

“Our long-brewing security problems were, on that day, brought into sharp relief,” Appel told council members.

For example, there was no way to notify people in the courthouse of what was going on when a Woodinville man frustrated with child custody arrangements allegedly entered the building with a half dozen guns. Emails let court staff know what was happening, but citizens didn’t have any information.

On Wednesday, the courthouse tried out an emergency alert system to let people, even in hallways, know what’s happening in case of another emergency.

Safety is imperative everywhere, but a building like a courthouse especially needs it, the judge said in a subsequent interview with The Daily Herald.

“This is a place where people come not because things are good with them, not because they’re happy,” the judge said, but because they are in crisis. “People react to crisis in different ways.”

Appel noted if such a standoff can happen once, it might happen again.

“There is no time to lose,” he said. “To the extent we can be, we need to be ready.”

Currently, court patrons must pass through a security checkpoint with a metal detector to get to any courtrooms. Behind this checkpoint, marshals look on from a raised dais. It was a marshal who confronted the man who entered the courthouse last month with guns, according to court documents. The marshal told the man to stop. He reportedly complied with the marshal’s demands, including putting his rifles on the ground. No one was injured.

In an email, sheriff’s office spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe said “the current level of security has a balance of being welcoming and accommodating to the public, but providing some essential security features.”

It’s hard to go in the courthouse and “skip past security,” Appel noted.

Just a day or two after the Dec. 12 standoff, a security consultant visited the courthouse, the judge said. That consultant “helped us become aware of weaknesses we didn’t even know about.”

In 2017, new state rules for trial courts mandated several security measures, including a courthouse security committee, a safety plan and security drills. Minimum security standards were also implemented in courts across Washington, including security audits every three years, an emergency broadcast system to notify court patrons and alarms throughout the courthouse to notify authorities of safety issues.

The courthouse already has those alarms, Appel told The Herald. And the security committee meets once a quarter.

But the last security assessment at the Everett courthouse was conducted in 2006. After that, it took three more years to finalize the court’s security plan. The security committee had been planning for a new assessment, but it has been expedited since the standoff, Appel told the council.

“It moved right to the very front of the line,” he said.

The court is now in talks to audit building safety. Appel plans to have recommendations by the time the County Council begins budgeting for 2024.

Some changes could be paid for through a new dedicated security fund helmed by the sheriff’s office for needs as they come up, instead of having to wait for the next budget cycle.

This fund could’ve been used for lock boxes outside the courthouse for people to store weapons before coming in, Appel said.

“We do anticipate making additional budget requests in the future so that we can secure dedicated and recurring funding to ensure the safety and security of court employees, county employees and the people who use our services,” Appel told the County Council.

Courthouse officials are also examining more pronounced security issues at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center in north Everett.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.