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<p>Lawyers, food delivery workers and all other non-employee visitors to the Luzerne County Courthouse must pass through metal detectors starting Aug. 3, officials say.</p><p>A security search also will be required on all belongings they bring in, from boxes of legal paperwork lugged by attorneys to pizza boxes and other food ordered by workers, said county Court Administrator Michael Shucosky.</p><p>Many attorneys and others who frequent the building had courtesy identification that allowed them to enter the building without examination, he said.</p><p>The same procedure will be used at two other county properties in Wilkes-Barre that house both courtrooms and general county government offices: the Bernard Brominski Building on North Street and the Penn Place Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, he said.</p><p>&#8220;We understand this may cause some delays as there are some peak times for people coming into the building, such as 8:30 a.m. Mondays on jury selection day. However for the safety of everyone it is necessary to enforce this rule,&#8221; Shucosky said.</p><p>Signs also were recently placed at the entrances of all county court-connected buildings, including magisterial district judge offices, making it clear guns are prohibited inside. The only exception will be for uniformed police officers, Shucosky said.</p><p>State law prohibits knowingly possessing firearms or other dangerous weapon in a court facility.</p><p><strong>Visitors with guns</strong></p><p>Shucosky said some citizens with concealed-weapon permits have mistakenly presumed they could keep their guns with them inside the courthouse and other county buildings.</p><p>&#8220;More and more people are obtaining these permits, and even though they may have a legal permit and a weapon that is legal in all respects, the law is clear that that weapon may not be brought into the building,&#8221; he said.</p><p>For example, one man walked into a county court building several months ago wearing a holster with a pistol in broad view and argued he had a legal right to bring the weapon inside, saying he carries the gun everywhere, Shucosky said. Another man innocently brought several guns into the courthouse believing he had to show them to the sheriff&#8217;s office to apply for a gun permit, Shucosky said.</p><p>In both cases, the men ended up agreeing to a security officer&#8217;s directive to return the guns to their vehicles, he said. The county also has secure lockers available to store weapons if visitors don&#8217;t want to take them back to their cars, although the sign is intended to prevent them from getting to security in the first place, officials said.</p><p>The county administration also has proposed spending $100,000 in past-borrowed funds on testing and upgrades to security entrance gates, scanning devices and security cameras and alarms. Additional security cameras also are possible if the allocation is approved by county council, said county Operational Services Division Head Tanis Manseau.</p><p>Manseau said representatives of the court, security, sheriff&#8217;s and law offices started meeting about two months ago to discuss security enhancements.</p><p>&#8220;Given all the things that have happened across the country, we&#8217;re trying to be a little more cautious, a little more proactive,&#8221; Manseau said. &#8220;We want to be very safe and never sorry.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Cause for concern</strong></p><p>The group decided all non-employees should be checked &#8220;regardless of their position or reason for being here,&#8221; Shucosky said.</p><p>County officials also have called for security enhancements after the 2013 shooting of three people at a Ross Township municipal meeting in the Poconos.</p><p>Court officials agreed to install bullet-resistant barriers at the county domestic relations office reception area last year after state auditors determined an unarmed security guard was not enough protection, particularly in light of the office&#8217;s handling of many contentious child- and spousal-support cases.</p><p>The state&#8217;s push for increased security at domestic relations stemmed largely from a 2013 shooting in Delaware, in which 68-year-old Thomas Matusiewicz shot and killed his former daughter-in-law and her friend in a courthouse lobby as they arrived for a child-support hearing involving his son.</p><p>Matusiewicz then shot it out with police before taking his own life, reports said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">New signs at the entrances of Luzerne County buildings containing courtrooms warn visitors that guns and other weapons are prohibited inside by state law. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_sign2.jpg</photo0><caption0>New signs at the entrances of Luzerne County buildings containing courtrooms warn visitors that guns and other weapons are prohibited inside by state law. </caption0><photoCredit0>James O&#8217;Malley | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_manseau1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Manseau </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_manseau1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Manseau </caption1><photoCredit1>James O&#8217;Malley | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_shucosky-Michael2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Shucosky </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_shucosky-Michael2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Shucosky </caption2><photoCredit2>James O&#8217;Malley | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

More security measures in store at Luzerne County buildings