Drill at courthouse gets grade of B

By D.a. Wilkinson

County officials were pleased with a security test.

LISBON — The Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency gave a grade of B to the first security test at the county courthouse.

The EMA routinely takes part in multistate tests in case of a disaster at the nuclear power plants in Shippingport, Pa.

County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said of the drill, “I thought it went well.” He added, however, there were “a few glitches to be worked out.”

The 30-minute test at 3 p.m. Thursday included the courthouse security personnel, who are armed law enforcement officials, and the county’s tactical response team.

Eric Moore, head of courthouse security, said those security officers are to stay at their posts during the drill — or in an emergency — while the tactical team handles the problem.

Under the test scenario, an EMA worker ran into the courthouse and several blanks were fired.

The test, Moore said, was successful.

The courthouse has three floors and a basement. The basement contains part of the sheriff’s office, including armed deputies, and the first and second floors have armed security officers.

The fourth floor has the clerk of courts office, which is open to the public, and the prosecutor’s office, which is a secure area.

The fake intruder, Moore said, ran up to the fourth floor and discovered “he had nowhere to go.”

Under the courthouse security plan, officials and workers are to stay in their work area, lock the door and turn out the lights.

Some county employees left the lights on and talked during the drill.

Moore said workers and officials are supposed to turn off the lights and not talk so an armed intruder won’t know if there are people in the offices.

Those taking part in the exercise, however, discovered that leaving computers on in an emergency creates shadows that hampered the vision of the authorities.

For some reason, some courthouse workers left the building before the test and went to their vehicles for the duration. Security officials weren’t sure why the workers left the building.

wilkinson@vindy.com