Security Concerns at FDL County Courthouse

Talks about making security improvements at the Fond du Lac City/County Government Center are growing – especially as people voice concerns over the lack of security around the second floor courthouse. Deputy Shad Ballwanz, who regularly covers the floor, says he has spoken to several jurors and visitors who question the security measures. Ballwanz points out it’s hard to predict what anyone will do during their day in court. 

Ballwanz says “they say there’s only two things that you come to the courthouse happy for and that adoptions and marriages.  But everything else is causing stress on people because everyday people are normally involved in the court process – so we have all of those factors as someone’s coming into a situation that they’re not comfortable with. At any given point you don’t know how they’re going to react.”

Speaking to several jurors and visitors, Ballwanz tells us “people can’t believe how easy it is to get into our courthouse. They’re
amazed they don’t have to go through any type of security screening, they don’t
have to have their bags checked. We’ve had jurors on the jury express concern
to us that anyone can just walk up there. And for the public access, there are
six access points where people can come and go at any time on the second
floor.”

Ballwanz suggests several improvements that could make the courthouse safer and give everyone in the building a bit more peace of mind, including “metal detector screenings, so people would have to go through metal detection – we’d like baggage screening and then additional help for the building. Running with one person is a struggle at times and we’re stretched thin. There’s times where even the road deputies are short, at that point we’re relying on pulling sergeants and detectives up to help us. So if we could get just a secured entrance, it’s going to help us out tremendously.”