Commissioners Discuss Courthouse Security

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – In the wake of the Zanesville Municipal Building shooting, the county has begun the process of implementing security improvements at their facilities.

Muskingum County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Jadwin met with the County Commissioners and Sheriff Matt Lutz, who joined the meeting by phone to discuss what security options are available and then explained why some of the upgrades are necessary.

“The system that we have currently is many years old,” Jadwin said. “So we’re looking at updating the system. I was approached to the conference by the salesman of the company that has the current system. And we just need to upgrade it. The big thing is the cost. We’ve got to determine who all needs to have access to activate the system. And makes a big difference in the cost of putting this system into the courthouse.”

The courthouse now directs entrants through a metal detector as an added security measure and other measures are being weighed that will improve safety during a lockdown situation.

One of the major issues that the new security upgrades will address is improved communication. 

“Well the current system is only on one radio frequency, we can put it on multiple frequencies so it can provide a broadcast to the sheriff’s deputies in the building to the deputies on the road and to the city police so that they’re all going to get the same message at the same time. So the response is much quicker. Rather than going to dispatch and then the dispatchers giving it out to the units and then calling the other dispatch center,” Jadwin said.

The county has various agencies located in multiple buildings around town and the new security implements will alert all departments simultaneously when a security incident takes place.