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Courthouse gets security cameras

• Security cameras now capture video but not audio in Dougherty courtrooms, a sheriff's official said.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Three years after an escaped Fulton County prisoner’s shooting rampage triggered statewide debate about courthouse security, Dougherty County has added a new layer of protection at the Dougherty Judicial Building.

In addition to the metal detectors and personnel guarding the entrance to the county courthouse, cameras in many rooms of the building, including courtrooms, will provide around-the-clock surveillance for potential problems, Capt. Tim Hanington of the Dougherty Sheriff’s Office said.

The first phase of the sales-tax funded project put 10 cameras in a web-based system that sheriff’s personnel can monitor through their computers; more cameras will be added to the system during the next few months, Hanington said.

“The extra security also lets us know when (we exceed) minimum line waits,” Hanington said. “It’s actually for customer service as well.”

The cameras are a first for the judicial building, which until the late 1990s lacked a working alarm system, he said.

The low bidder for the project was Southland Technologies, a company based in Sylvester. The first phase of the project cost $14,000, Hanington said.

“This can help us, if it doesn’t deter a situation, to mitigate the situation before it gets serious,” he said.

The cameras are in a fixed position — on entrance- and exit-ways, the courtroom lawyers’ regions and audience sections — but not on the jury box, he said.

But audio recording, which might pick up conversations protected by attorney-client privilege, will only be operating in cameras at the judicial building’s entrance, not in the courtrooms, Hanington said.

“That would have crossed a whole new boundary,” he said.

The county has increased security in the judicial building since 2005, when Brian Nichols’ shooting rampage left a judge and several others dead in Fulton County. Panic buttons have been installed in the courtrooms, and last year, additional personnel were added, Hanington said.

Many non-judicial functions previously housed in the building have been moved elsewhere, he said.

The sheriff’s office is responsible for security at the courthouse, and Hanington has overseen the upgrades, he said.

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