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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Poor security exposes High Court judges to danger ( Observer )...</span>
THEY wield considerable power, dispensing justice and deciding cases of national import. Their opinions, at times, form the basis for amendments to the island's laws.But for all their importance to the country's democracy, High Court judges appear to be sitting ducks, vulnerable to attacks due to insufficient security measures at the Supreme Court and neglect on the part of some security officers there.The security concerns are such that attorneys are calling for immediate corrective measures, while expressing fears that the existing situation could easily be exploited to devastating effect."Traditionally we don't have a problem. But things change, and the society changes, and if we continue [as is] we are courting disaster," said senior criminal lawyer Tom Tavares-Finson in assessing for the Sunday Observer the security situation at the Supreme Court building along King Street, downtown Kingston.But at the same time, Tavares-Finson, who is a Government senator, said that justices should be equally blamed for the "untenable" security situation at the Supreme Court."...They accept what is given to them by the authorities," said the attorney. "The day that they say they are not going to sit in a vulnerable situation, that is the day [things] will change."Indeed, the untenable security situation -- as outlined by Tavares-Finson and other attorneys, as well as from what the Sunday Observer has seen -- is troubling.Importantly, the first sign of any security breakdown appears at the entrance to the building. On three occasions -- in October and December -- the Observer's executive editor Vernon Davidson and two attorneys noticed that persons were not searched before entering the building, despite triggering the metal detector. Even then, Davidson said, the officers from the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), the entity responsible for security at the island's courts, seemed indifferent."...The cops appeared unconcerned and sat at their station, talking to each other," said Davidson. "I even noticed that some persons didn't even check with the ISCF cops at the door, they simply walked in and went about their business as the metal detector beeped and beeped and beeped."According to an official at the Supreme Court and attorney Bert Samuels, a partner in the firm Knight Junor & Samuels, the metal detector has not been functional for some time now.Persons who are not attorneys or police officers have been observed using the entrance to the court building that is reserved for lawyers and judges. A couple years ago, two gates were set up on Temple Lane, barring public use of the thoroughfare at the rear entrance to the court building used by judges, and security cameras were installed. But Observer legal counsel Tanya Burke has noted that scant attention is paid to the monitors.Having to share the same space on the building as members of the public and accused persons alike, judges risk possible attack en route to their chambers, even though they are escorted by orderlies from the ISCF.Yet danger can also be found in areas that are out of bounds to the public, like the open corridor judges traverse en route to their chambers from courtrooms Number One, Two and Seven. This trek exposes them to possible danger coming from a multi-level public car park, opposite the open corridor, that runs along Temple Lane.There are also three courtrooms facing the parking garage, the windows of which lawyers are recommending be replaced with bullet-proof glass.Judges are also vulnerable in their chambers, which can be entered from the public corridor of the court. Here, the judges are often without their orderlies and are often alone when there are no in-chambers matters scheduled. The orderlies usually leave after escorting judges to chambers and return when the judges have to appear in court or desire to leave the building.To guarantee better security at this point, Samuels has recommended the installation of electronic locks on judges' chambers, the password of which would be shared with the orderlies. Said Samuels: "There is a need... for greater electronic security to be given to them."Chief Justice Zaila McCalla enjoys a similar security arrangement at her first-floor chambers, which is the most secure on the building. The chief justice is protected at all times by two armed members of the ISCF. To access McCalla's chambers, one would have to be buzzed in by her secretary.Even Court of Appeal justices, who seldom interface with the public, are far better protected than their counterparts across the street at the Supreme Court. The private chambers of the less than a dozen justices are securely locked away on the upper floors of the building and no in-chambers matters are held there.Concerns were also raised that there are not enough police personnel to man the criminal courts during sittings.Commandant Paul Campbell, who is head of security at the Supreme Court, was not available to comment.Still, others are of the view that there is no need for added security measures for judges. Among them are Dr Herbert Gayle, anthropologist of social violence in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of the West Indies, and attorney Patrick Bailey. Both said that Jamaica does not have a culture of organised criminal elements attacking persons of authority.But proponents of increased security said that culture is no reason to gamble on security."In this new day and age," said Queen's Counsel Patrick Atkinson, "it's time to start looking at judges' security a little more carefully."A series of incidents at the Supreme Court -- the most serious dating back close to 20 years -- show just how vulnerable judges are. A computer was stolen from a judge's chamber in 2007, just weeks after three computers were stolen from the strongroom of the Supreme Court.Over a two-month period in 2009, an elusive thief, in broad daylight, stole food items and a kettle from the judges' lunch room. The incident followed the installation of the court's multimillion-dollar surveillance system. Police personnel were immediately placed at desks on each floor of the building.Almost 20 years ago, a convict who was in the process of being sentenced by Justice Courtney Orr, disarmed a cop, after pulling a knife, and ran from the court. He was fatally shot by the police along King Street.With the expansion of the Supreme Court expected to start this year, it is hoped that adequate security arrangements will be made for judges.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Poor security exposes High Court judges to danger ( Observer )...</span>
THEY wield considerable power, dispensing justice and deciding cases of national import. Their opinions, at times, form the basis for amendments to the island's laws.But for all their importance to the country's democracy, High Court judges appear to be sitting ducks, vulnerable to attacks due to insufficient security measures at the Supreme Court and neglect on the part of some security officers there.The security concerns are such that attorneys are calling for immediate corrective measures, while expressing fears that the existing situation could easily be exploited to devastating effect."Traditionally we don't have a problem. But things change, and the society changes, and if we continue [as is] we are courting disaster," said senior criminal lawyer Tom Tavares-Finson in assessing for the Sunday Observer the security situation at the Supreme Court building along King Street, downtown Kingston.But at the same time, Tavares-Finson, who is a Government senator, said that justices should be equally blamed for the "untenable" security situation at the Supreme Court."...They accept what is given to them by the authorities," said the attorney. "The day that they say they are not going to sit in a vulnerable situation, that is the day [things] will change."Indeed, the untenable security situation -- as outlined by Tavares-Finson and other attorneys, as well as from what the Sunday Observer has seen -- is troubling.Importantly, the first sign of any security breakdown appears at the entrance to the building. On three occasions -- in October and December -- the Observer's executive editor Vernon Davidson and two attorneys noticed that persons were not searched before entering the building, despite triggering the metal detector. Even then, Davidson said, the officers from the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), the entity responsible for security at the island's courts, seemed indifferent."...The cops appeared unconcerned and sat at their station, talking to each other," said Davidson. "I even noticed that some persons didn't even check with the ISCF cops at the door, they simply walked in and went about their business as the metal detector beeped and beeped and beeped."According to an official at the Supreme Court and attorney Bert Samuels, a partner in the firm Knight Junor & Samuels, the metal detector has not been functional for some time now.Persons who are not attorneys or police officers have been observed using the entrance to the court building that is reserved for lawyers and judges. A couple years ago, two gates were set up on Temple Lane, barring public use of the thoroughfare at the rear entrance to the court building used by judges, and security cameras were installed. But Observer legal counsel Tanya Burke has noted that scant attention is paid to the monitors.Having to share the same space on the building as members of the public and accused persons alike, judges risk possible attack en route to their chambers, even though they are escorted by orderlies from the ISCF.Yet danger can also be found in areas that are out of bounds to the public, like the open corridor judges traverse en route to their chambers from courtrooms Number One, Two and Seven. This trek exposes them to possible danger coming from a multi-level public car park, opposite the open corridor, that runs along Temple Lane.There are also three courtrooms facing the parking garage, the windows of which lawyers are recommending be replaced with bullet-proof glass.Judges are also vulnerable in their chambers, which can be entered from the public corridor of the court. Here, the judges are often without their orderlies and are often alone when there are no in-chambers matters scheduled. The orderlies usually leave after escorting judges to chambers and return when the judges have to appear in court or desire to leave the building.To guarantee better security at this point, Samuels has recommended the installation of electronic locks on judges' chambers, the password of which would be shared with the orderlies. Said Samuels: "There is a need... for greater electronic security to be given to them."Chief Justice Zaila McCalla enjoys a similar security arrangement at her first-floor chambers, which is the most secure on the building. The chief justice is protected at all times by two armed members of the ISCF. To access McCalla's chambers, one would have to be buzzed in by her secretary.Even Court of Appeal justices, who seldom interface with the public, are far better protected than their counterparts across the street at the Supreme Court. The private chambers of the less than a dozen justices are securely locked away on the upper floors of the building and no in-chambers matters are held there.Concerns were also raised that there are not enough police personnel to man the criminal courts during sittings.Commandant Paul Campbell, who is head of security at the Supreme Court, was not available to comment.Still, others are of the view that there is no need for added security measures for judges. Among them are Dr Herbert Gayle, anthropologist of social violence in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of the West Indies, and attorney Patrick Bailey. Both said that Jamaica does not have a culture of organised criminal elements attacking persons of authority.But proponents of increased security said that culture is no reason to gamble on security."In this new day and age," said Queen's Counsel Patrick Atkinson, "it's time to start looking at judges' security a little more carefully."A series of incidents at the Supreme Court -- the most serious dating back close to 20 years -- show just how vulnerable judges are. A computer was stolen from a judge's chamber in 2007, just weeks after three computers were stolen from the strongroom of the Supreme Court.Over a two-month period in 2009, an elusive thief, in broad daylight, stole food items and a kettle from the judges' lunch room. The incident followed the installation of the court's multimillion-dollar surveillance system. Police personnel were immediately placed at desks on each floor of the building.Almost 20 years ago, a convict who was in the process of being sentenced by Justice Courtney Orr, disarmed a cop, after pulling a knife, and ran from the court. He was fatally shot by the police along King Street.With the expansion of the Supreme Court expected to start this year, it is hoped that adequate security arrangements will be made for judges.