The first phase of a new security system at the state capital should be in place by the time the regular legislative session convenes next January. General Services Director Dick Haines says not only could people come and go at almost any hour, some doors in the old capital building didn’t even lock.
He says there’s a balance between public access and security, and only because “people have messed that up” do we need to have more security. Haines says after the session’s over, work will begin on a second phase, which will include doors that will only open for the holder of an access card.
Not just outside but inside doors too, so you can limit access to certain people and tell who came and went, and when. Another part of the second phase will be putting emergency-call “panic buttons” in court chambers, legislative leaders’ offices, and the rotunda. For now, they won’t go the next step and put in metal detectors or video surveillance cameras.