ELYRIA — When the county Justice Center opened for business in 2004, two brand-new X-ray machines, flanked by metal detectors, guarded the entrance.

But those X-ray machines are broken – forcing deputies to search the briefcases and purses of court visitors by hand.

“Over the past year, they’ve been up and down,” said Sheriff’s Capt. James Drozdowski, who oversees deputies assigned to Justice Center security.

The machines, which the county purchased $58,600, already have undergone more than $15,000 worth of maintenance in the past few years, said county Maintenance Director Dennis Shawver.

The cost of new machines are expected to be around $60,000, Shawver said, and he said he’s weighing the cost of replacing the machines against continued repairs.

When the county bought the machines from Control Screening, officials opted not to purchase a maintenance plan that would have run $10,200 a year, county Special Projects Director Karen Davis said.

It was a gamble that doesn’t appear to have paid off, admitted county Administrator Jim Cordes.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take the roll of the dice and try to save a little money and sometimes you come up snake-eyes,” Cordes said.

The machines worked fine for the first year, when they were still under warranty, Davis said. But ever since the warranty ran out, one or the other has been down, sometimes for months at a time, particularly in the last year.

Shawver said if the county does decide to get new machines, he plans to make sure there are service contracts in place to keep the machines operating.

But just because the X-ray machines are both broken doesn’t mean that security at the Justice Center is compromised, Drozdowski said. Having the machines operational just makes it better, he said.

“Security could be better, but I don’t think it’s been compromised to the point where there’s a safety concern,” he said.

Court security has been a concern for judges and law enforcement since the Justice Center opened. The Ohio Supreme Court recently completed a review of the Justice Center’s security practices, but it has Presiding Judge Mark Betleski, who requested the review, not make the findings public.

Betleski said he plans to honor that request, but added that a new security committee created to review procedures at the Justice Center will discuss the X-ray machines when it meets next week.

Betleski also would not discuss what recommendations the high court made about a decision made by the county’s judges when the Justice Center opened to bar police from carrying guns inside.

Currently, only sheriff’s deputies assigned to the Justice Center are allowed to be armed, a policy that has angered local police chiefs.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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