KEEPING ORDER IN THE COURTHOUSE

Mar 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By KATE HENRY

Like building a dream house, building a dream security operation from the ground up presents unique design opportunities, but flights of fancy have no place in the sophisticated design of the Bernalillo County courthouse in Albuquerque, N.M.

The county's comprehensive approach to securing its new judicial cornerstone was devised during an unsettling time in American history — shortly after the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building had inspired horror throughout the country, and hit home for municipal security managers. “Clearly, we were looking at security very seriously from all points of view,” says Terry Nighbert, construction project manager for the courthouse and real estate manager for the county, who has been constructing buildings for local government for 28 years.

County Sheriff Joe Bowdich, currently serving his second term, teamed with a broad range of county officials to devise the project design. “It was opened last summer,” explains Bowdich, “and the old one, which was last remodeled in the ‘60s, was just outgrown — it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter — nothing worked properly,” he recalls. “So from the first, security was an integral part of the plan.”

The district courthouse, which comprises both criminal and civil courts, serves Bernalillo County exclusively — about a half million people, including urban Albuquerque and its rural fringe, including unincorporated villages, parts of three native American reservations and a large air force base. The county also has a federal and municipal courthouse in the district.

BUILDING ANEW

“Building from the ground up presented opportunities not present in an existing or retrofit project,” Nighbert says, “and building a complex new government structure is unique in that it involves input from so many interested parties.” He explains that goal-setting for the 272,000-square-foot, seven-story structure began with a committee of judges, county commissioners and other department heads involved in security such as the sheriff, the district attorney and the bar association.

Members of the committee took an 11-state tour, from Florida to California, to look at other courthouses under-construction or recently built and to learn about effective security planning for a judicial system. “Our elected officials had the chance to talk with other elected officials who use the buildings on a daily basis, which was invaluable,” Nighbert says.

Following those tours, officials placed priority on developing a high-tech security system that would be fully integrated with other building systems.

“We decided to have an intelligent building,” Nighbert explains. “It's kind of a buzz-word in the industry these days, but at its heart is a special-access flooring and cabling system. All the wiring goes under a 2-1/2 inch false floor, so that if the system needs updating in any way, we don't have to tear up walls; we just take up the panels in the floor and work with the wire.”

Today, all building systems run off that communications backbone and talk to each other using an Ethernet network. The courthouse integrates 24-hour, on-site camera monitoring and recording, motion and glass break intrusion detection devices and alarms, panic buttons and an accompanying speaker system, an access control system that uses proximity readers, a fully addressable fire and smoke detection alarm system and an HVAC system, all controlled from a security command center on the second floor overlooking the lobby.

Nighbert says the security systems represent about six percent of the entire project budget, not including structural elements such as construction of the command center and installation of perimeter bollards and blast-absorbing architectural features. “We have bollards next to the curbs, and no parking is allowed along any of the areas next to the courthouse,” he explains. “There is one area that's a pull-up space for handicapped people, but it's next to a colonnade area that's not structurally attached to the building.”

TOTAL BUILDING CONTROL

Systems integrator Johnson Controls was called in to provide all the building systems, and account executive Andy Ross worked closely with the county to present a variety of options during project planning. Like Nighbert, he notes the project presented unique challenges — which were met successfully.

“With a municipality, it's a competitive bid process, so they can't necessarily go with something regardless of price. And because so many entities within the county government are involved, you have to ensure you're satisfying everyone's needs.” That called for some strategic value engineering, according to Ross.

He says that because all building systems, from security to HVAC to lighting, talk to each other, coordinating the cabling and electrical contractors was a priority. According to Ross, such pervasive integration is particularly useful for emergency response as well as for speed of troubleshooting issues as they arise.

The courtrooms are the pulse of the building and are protected accordingly. The CCTV system, specified by the building's architectural engineers, is similar to the federal and the municipal courthouse. All are equipped with Philips gear. The mix of fixed, pan/tilt/zoom and color and black-and-white Philips cameras featured throughout the interior and exterior of the building are strategically placed, monitored and recorded on-site. The two-camera system includes high-resolution fixed and EnviroDome outdoor speed dome cameras, five standard-resolution 17-inch color monitors, video recorders, and multiplexers controlled by an Allegiant 8800 switcher.

Panic devices incorporate speakers, a lesson learned from a courthouse in San Antonio, says Nighbert, where a system without speakers meant a responding SWAT team did not know what they were facing inside. “If something happens to the cameras, a speaker is behind the Kevlar-protected judge's bench, which will stop a 357 Magnum, so he or she can advise regarding the situation,” he says.

Doors through which judges exit the courtroom are monitored with the CCTV system and are secured by Johnson Controls' CardKey Pegasys proximity access system. The integration between CCTV and access control systems allows the doors to be locked once the judges leave, and also locks doors throughout the building. Stairways are exit-only accessible without a valid card. A fully addressable, intelligent fire alarm system manufactured by Notifier features smoke evacuation panels and manual override for the fire department and is also integrated with HVAC, cameras and the access system.

The L-shaped courthouse covers about two acres of ground, including not only courtrooms, but also a heavily secured and manned underground parking area for the judges. “That way, the judges don't have to walk outside the courthouse in the open and risk being accosted because of a sentence they handed out,” Nighbert explains. “Hard cells,” where defendants wait out trial recesses, and a 40-person-capacity detention center in the basement, as well as judges' chambers and other areas, are heavily secured.

“The only place the public, judges and defendants meet is in the courtrooms,” Nighbert says. “For example, with security in mind, we built three separate elevator systems — one for the public, one for judges and court personnel and one for those being tried.”

Ross notes that the detention control system, which controls the detention center and the hard cells, is quite extensive, including cameras, access control and speakers as well as touch screen technology dictating lock, unlock door sequencing.

VISCERAL RISK

Security risks at the courthouse are perhaps more visceral than in other environments, running the gamut from would-be vandals at night, to revenge-seeking relatives to galleries packed with rival gang members during homicide trials, according to Sheriff Bowdich.

But as in any application, systems or no systems, alert human eyes are the first line of defense.

“At any time, you have angry people coming and going,” says Bowdich, whose office furnishes the courthouse team of 27 security officers, commanded by a sergeant, which ensures there are neither disruptions in court nor emotional eruptions in the building. “Any citizen has the right to be in the court, but you'd be surprised at how many people try to smuggle in weapons — whether legal or illegal. If legal, we confiscate, if illegal, we arrest. We enact a series of screening measures — especially in these terrorist times, you have to be all the more cautious,” he says.

Bowdich says the county previously employed full-time deputies, but that the job presents retired law enforcement with a win-win employment basis by providing retirees a 20-hour work week and the courthouse 24-hour coverage: “They are all fully screened and must pass physical, psychological and polygraph checks before coming on,” Bowdich adds.

Owing to the sophistication of the systems network and the expertise of trained and armed personnel, an incident meriting reinforcements is unlikely. However, the courthouse is located close to both the Albuquerque police department and the sheriff's department and communicates with both. Should a need arise, backup is swift.

FOR THE RECORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kate Henry is an Annapolis, Md.-based writer and regular contributor to Access Control & Security Systems.

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