Court dates create lines
By John Joyce
Published in News on July 18, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
People mill around one of the upper floors of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex this morning. More than 900 cases were on the docket for court today and more than 1,200 people showed up, according to a security count. Sheriff Larry Pierce said additional deputies were posted to handle the large crowd.
The metal detectors in the atrium of the Wayne County Courthouse track the number of people who step through them each day.
As of 9:30 a.m. today, the east side metal detector read 641.
The west side detector read 134.
Nine hundred thirty-four cases were on the calendar for Friday's administrative court session.
More than 1,200 people showed up, according to security.
"We had to shift some things around to get extra deputies in place," Sheriff Larry Pierce said.
It is not unusual to have a large crowd of people at the courthouse, the sheriff said.
"It is unusual to have this many," he added.
As each person enters the building, he or she is asked to empty his or her pockets into plastic trays and pass through the metal detectors. Women are asked to open their purses and men to open their briefcases.
Once through the metal detectors, or asked to pass around them if the person has a pacemaker or medical condition, each person is wanded using a hand-held metal detector.
Men are asked to remove their hats and tuck their shirttails in before entering the courtroom.
Looking up from the atrium floor, open-air platforms ring the inside of the courthouse on each of the upper floors connecting the courtrooms on the south side of the building with offices on the north side.
Today the crowd for the second floor traffic court session snaked around the open air walkway on both sides and met in the middle on the south end.
Additional deputies were positioned in the halls and inside courtrooms for added security.
No issues were reported.