Security stepped up at Idaho Attorney General’s office
Security has been stepped up at the Idaho Attorney General’s office, the Idaho Statesman reported over the weekend, after several incidents, including one in which an agitated, threatening man demanded to see Attorney General Lawrence Wasden; and another in which an armed group entered the office while a member of the group filmed them on his phone. A new intercom and video system was installed May 25, reports Statesman reporter Bill Dentzer, and a key-card door security system, previously installed but not activated, has been turned on. That means visitors who approach the glass main doors to the office suite must be buzzed in, unless they have key cards.
No single incident prompted the move, Wasden’s spokesman, Todd Dvorak, told the Statesman. Instead, he said, it’s “about ensuring a secure work environment for the staff here in the main office suite.”
There are security key-card entries on many of the office doors in the state Capitol. That includes the basement press room, where reporters get key cards from Capitol Security for use during the legislative session; and the office suite where Gov. Butch Otter’s press secretary, Jon Hanian, has his office. Though that door previously was open, a card-reader security system was added there several months ago. “The suite that we put the card readers on was just mainly to prevent tourists from wandering into the offices,” said Diane Blume, spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration. “I guess they had a lot of that happening.” A sign on that door directs people to check in with the receptionist at the governor’s office across the hall.
Dentzer reports that on March 11, after a militia group held a rally on the Capitol steps, a half dozen armed men entered the Attorney General’s office, seeking a meeting with Wasden. He wasn’t there at the time, and the visitors left without incident.
Guns are allowed in Idaho’s state Capitol. They were banned for 12 years by an executive order, first issued in 1996 by Gov. Phil Batt and twice renewed by his successor, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. But after lawmakers passed a law in 2008 saying only the Legislature could regulate firearms in Idaho, Gov. Butch Otter allowed the ban to expire. Dentzer’s full report is online here.
Wasden told the Statesman his decision to increase security wasn’t an easy one. “But ultimately, there was a need to balance the open access the public has had to my office in the past with providing my staff a more secure workplace environment,” he said. The new measures won’t change “the level of engagement I’ve always maintained with the citizens of this state, lawmakers and others who interact with my office on a daily basis.”
