Security At Capitol Getting Closer Look New Budget Calls For More Cops, Devices

Plans to step up security in the state Capitol have sparked dissension among lawmakers over what’s safe, what’s reasonable and what’s the Idaho way.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s proposed budget calls for three additional state police officers to join the two now assigned full time to the Statehouse, and also calls for purchasing such security equipment as mail screening devices, metal detectors and additional security cameras. Total price tag: nearly half a million dollars.

State police actually wanted to add six officers, but Kempthorne cut the request back.

“There’s two key elements that I want to accomplish with this building,” Kempthorne said Tuesday. “One is access, and two is safety for the citizens that come here. No way would I ever want to cut off access. That’s just not my style.”

But Kempthorne’s transition director, Greg Casey, has been talking about how vulnerable the Statehouse is. There are eight entrances, and people come and go freely. Casey, former U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms, has been promoting the idea of a single entrance with metal detectors.

Though Kempthorne’s not endorsed that idea and legislative leaders have made it clear they’re against it, it’s created a buzz.

“I like the openness of our state Capitol and the availability that it lends to the people,” said Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum. “I think Dirk is bringing a little bit of Washington, D.C., to Boise.”

“My knee-jerk reaction is I hope we’re not to the point yet that we need that in Idaho,” said Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden.

Kempthorne met with legislative leaders on Monday and discussed the issue, and Jerry Twiggs, Senate president pro tem, said his concerns were laid to rest.

“The whole thing has been blown clear out of proportion,” he said Tuesday. “I would like to see some unobtrusive higher security. The governor said that’s exactly the word he was trying to find.”

Twiggs said screening mail and having a portable metal detector available for special events or large, controversial hearings is “not a bad idea.”

But he’d draw the line at closing off the Capitol’s multiple entrances for surveillance purposes. “That’s what I would call obtrusive.”

Lt. Robert Lockett of the Idaho State Police said threats against state employees and elected officials are on the increase. “Threats and other problems have gone up significantly in the two years that we’ve kept track,” he said.

Lockett said the Department of Law Enforcement has been pushing for stepped-up security for several years. One officer was assigned to the Statehouse, with legislative approval, in 1996, and another was later assigned there as well.

Only this year did the department’s $787,600 proposal for more Statehouse security surface in its budget request. “We’ve gone in before, and our past directors have talked to the governor, and that’s about as far as it’s made it,” Lockett said.

This year, Kempthorne recommended $333,700 for three officers, patrol cars and equipment. He also recommended $150,000 for the security devices.

Said House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, “You hate to think Idaho has reached this point, but you’ve had a guy walk up and shoot a trooper right at the office, a guy walk in and threaten to kill the governor. … I’d hate for something to happen to the governor and his family because we pinched pennies.”

Those what-ifs also trouble Kempthorne, who noted that families and children from around the state often are in the Statehouse.

“When professionals come to you and have concerns, you can’t do nothing,” he said. “If we hadn’t and something happened, we’d all feel pretty bad.”