Supervisors Will Discuss Security

Threats to security at the Hall of Administration have prompted Orange County supervisors to call a closed-door session Tuesday with sheriff’s officials to discuss security lapses in county buildings.

The weak security surfaced in a confidential report requested by county officials in the wake of the October shooting of five people by a postal worker before a Riverside City Council meeting. The shooter also was wounded.

The sheriff’s report showed that in the Hall of Administration, “we really don’t have that much” security, said one county staff member, who asked to remain unidentified.

Supervisors were hesitant to upgrade security at the hall before ensuring that other county buildings are safe. A sheriff’s department assessment of county facilities will be the topic of Tuesday’s meeting, the staffer said.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who declined to comment on the upcoming session, said the board has been considering the hall’s security for more than a year.

“Let’s face it--based upon my experience as a prosecutor and a police officer, anyone who is committed to doing harm unfortunately has many ways to accomplish that,” he said.

Spitzer, who at times carries a concealed weapon, refused to discuss specific security lapses.

After the 1994 county bankruptcy, supervisors received death threats. County officials redesigned the Hall of Administration, adding walls, barriers and locked doors to what were once public areas.

But Spitzer, for one, didn’t want to work on improving the hall’s security again until improvements are made at the county courthouse. Stepped-up security at the latter should be in place Friday when airport-style X-ray machines and metal detectors will be put to use.

Such security is common in federal and big-city courthouses. It also has been in place at the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Justice Center--for juvenile, family law and probate issues--since it opened in Orange in 1992.

James Campbell, assistant to the board’s chairman, Charles V. Smith, declined comment about Tuesday’s meeting. But he said security is a societal concern.

“In this day and age, you can never be too careful,” he said. “All we want to do is take basic precautions. You can’t insulate yourselves from harm . . . but we can, at least, take some basic precautions to hopefully keep tragedies from happening, like in Riverside and San Francisco.”

In 1978, former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who previously had been a policeman and a fireman, shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Spitzer said such tragedies have made the public more accepting of reduced access to public buildings.

“The public is willing to tolerate and understand that public officials and other high-profile people have to protect their safety simply because of the number of incidents where [unlimited] access has been abused,” he said.