Metal detectors and x-ray machines to be installed at State Capitol Building

Security will be a little tighter when Iowa lawmakers return to the State Capitol Building. Nine of the 12 Statehouse doors will be locked and anyone entering the remaining three will have to pass through a metal detector and have their bags x-rayed. The move is part of an attempt to increase security following the September 11th attacks. Senator John Jensen, a republican from Plainfield, says he hopes the change will make people feel safer.Jensen says they should’ve done something sooner, as he says anyone has been allowed to come in at any hour. Jensen says it’s something that’s concerned him.State Representative Betty Grundberg, a republican from Des Moines, says the move will only mar the beauty of building. And, she says the locked doors will keep people away. She says to close the building down and let people enter through doors that are actually exits, “Does not make any sense to me.”Grundberg says the changes will hamper the ability of Iowans to interact with their state government. Grundberg says the President asked Americans to get back to normal, and she says visiting the Statehouse is normal.A committee of state legislators approved the installation of the three metal detectors Tuesday. The metal detectors and x-ray machines will cost the state around 125-thousand dollars. The committee voted to purchase the machines as soon as possible.