Here’s a partial list of items confiscated and/or rejected by Humboldt County Courthouse security over the past year six months:
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Three guns
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2,024 knives
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294 pairs of scissors
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202 razor blades
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824 “pointed devices”*
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31 “sharp objects”*
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94 knitting needles
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54 screwdrivers
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53 corkscrews
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96 metal forks
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52 bullets
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21 toy/replica guns
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127 chains (12 inches or longer)
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90 handcuff keys (zero handcuffs)
*When you eliminate all the other “pointed devices” and “sharp objects” on this list, it makes you wonder what’s left. Pencils? Quills? Pitchforks?
This article appears in Whales. In a River..
I want to see a running counter put up in the courthouse lobby and in court rooms that tallies the costs of salaries paid to county court employees including cop pay. There’s 3 or 4 people’s salaries being paid at that security check point and I want the public to know what it costs them for this “security”.
Has anyone tallied up how many violent acts using weapons have happened in Humboldt County courts or courthouse? I’ve lived here since 1975 and do not recall any shootouts happening at the courthouse. So why all this security checks? In Humboldt County who would be surprised at people coming in with weapons, hell, in some states they allow people to carry guns in public. What matters is if they use them and that doesn’t usually happen. So again, why are we paying for all this security crap when there’s been no justification for it? It’s just another place government agencies are ripping off the public with either bad service, no service, false service, very expensive false service at that..
Knitting Needles? Really?? Afraid Grandma is gonna knit them a new one?
The security is required by the Administrative Office of the Courts, not by the County of Humboldt. Unfortunately, the building’s layout doesn’t allow us to have a separate entrance for the courts, so we have to provide security at both entrances.
Security checks entering the Courthouse– and especially the Courts and Jail– is a wise, prudent, and preventative safety and security measure for obvious reasons. The list of confiscated items speaks for itself. It’s amazing folks come in with these items knowing they’ll be found and taken, rather than simply avoiding them altogether or returning them back to their car.
Yours truly remembers one member of Counsel falling asleep during proceedings– the knife strapped to his leg dropping onto the Courtroom floor bringing all to a screeching halt. Funny, that same member later tried smuggling in items hidden in a suit for his ‘client’ in the pokey.
You just never know. Better to be safe than sorry. There’s dozens more stories like this, I’m sure. You’ve heard of the more tragic consequences occurring elsewhere, of course.
Three guns?
I think this is misleading. The list includes “rejected” items. I would bet this would include “I’m sorry ma’am you can’t bring your embroidery scissors and knitting needles into court to kill time as you wait three hours” I’ve accidently tried to walk in with a tiny knife attached to my keys and been “rejected”. I’m assuming instances like these are the norm.
If we try to prevent every potential crime we will live in a police state. The bottom line still for me is HOW MANY VIOLENT ACTS have actually taken place at our county courthouse to justify these security measures and the enormous expense (four salaries of cops each earning what, three, four or five times the average Humboldt County employee wage plus retirement benefits unreal in comparison with non-public employees? We are letting ourselves be bamboozled by FEAR that isn’t justified. Save the money for people’s real needs in Humboldt County now, community services that are vital and not wasted on companies promoting fear for profit.
96 metal forks?
Granted, one may never know when you might need it. Ours are usually at home nesting in the kitchen drawer with the spoons.