Local News
Buechel Addresses Security Checkpoint Plans
The Fond du Lac City/County Government Center may be seeing some security upgrades in the near future. Local officials are discussing plans to create a security checkpoint at the north entrance to the building – which would become the only public access point. County Executive Allen Buechel tells us the city and county – along with chief judge – have all had input on the plans, and both levels of government will provide funding.
Buechel explains that “back when it was built in 1981, we agreed to charge expenses based on the percentage of occupancy. And right now the city’s about 34-percent, the county’s about 66 [percent] – so if we’re going to be spending, we have $140,000 in the budget this year because it’s starting late. For the two officers, the city will pick up their third of that, and we’ll pick the other two thirds up through that particular budget.”
The extra safety precautions are being taken – addressing numerous comments and concerns from people who have been in the building.
Buechel adds that “we never expect anything to happen in
reasonable step to take to protect the public and the employees in this
building in the event where somebody wants to come in with a weapon. And
sometimes they just carry in case they want to use it, and others are more like
what happened at Columbine and so forth where they come in with the intent to
hurt people.”
And while some people worry that a single entrance for public access with a security checkpoint will be a hassle, County Executive Allen Buechel argues it really won’t take long to get through.
He says “the whole thing is designed to have people go through very quickly. But these X-Ray units will be able to detect something very easily and very quickly. So if there’s nothing on your person that’s going to set it off, it’ll be just a little bit slower than just walking into the building without going through the metal detector.”
Buechel expects to begin training officers in January, and having a staffed security checkpoint operational in late April or early May – given that the plans are approved on both the city and county levels.