Only in Broward County: Courthouse security catches man with gun at entrance, but judges overreact oh-so predictably, demanding an armed cop in EVERY courtroom.
As if on cue, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million for more deputies in courthouses.
In a word: NO!
How can I put this in a way that you will understand -the courthouse security we already have WORKED.
Whether that is because the security that day -Wednesday- was Sherlock Holmes-like or because the person apprehended was stupid enough to put a gun in a gym bag thru a magnetometer at a place that warns you in advance, you be the.. yes, judge.
Here's the line from the Sun-Sentinel article below that tells you everything you need to know:
Though armed deputies roam the courthouses, there are none working in any Broward courtroom unless a judge asks for one or there's a murder trial.
Exactly.
Because an armed deputy is NOT required for every single courtroom.
In any case, what would all these armed cops do on Fridays after lunch?
Hasn't Broward legal blogger JAABLOG already proven time and again that on Fridays, many of the courtrooms in the Main Courthouse in downtown Ft. Lauderdale are empty? Yes, he has proven it to a fair-thee-well.
Guess they could provide security and walk along the largely tourist-free FTL riverfront and count the number of graffiti 'tags' on the bridge and the poles and the signs...
Is it impossible for even one legitimate Miami-based TV/print reporter in the year 2011 to do a story on the Broward County Courthouse, and for just once, just for the hell of it, actually describe in detail what things are like there on Fridays?
I know that this is expecting a lot since they could
NEVER manage to do even
ONE story on the financial, historical and political context behind the "fix" that was the
Broward County Courthouse Task Force under Chair -and downtown FTL property-owner?-
Ilene Lieberman, and the
predictable decisions that were made, despite the fact that that story was practically given to them on a silver platter.
And still they blanched...
"It's not a question of 'Do we need a courthouse?' We need it and we need to get it done," said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman who headed the task force.
(See more on that so-called Task Force below, which once included Scott Rothstein.)
It's really NOT that hard to do.
But you have to want to actually do it.
To NOT keep making excuses for avoiding the story and knowing that you will rattle some powerful and well-connected Broward cages in doing so.
To stop procrastinating.
Here in South Florida, the local news media doesn't want to.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
After second gunman this year enters a Broward courthouse, sheriff seeks security funding
By Linda Trischitta and Danielle A. Alvarez, Sun Sentinel
8:48 PM EDT, September 28, 2011
FORT LAUDERDALE
After a second incident this year when an armed man entered a Broward County courthouse, the chief judge and the sheriff called for county funding to increase security.
No one was hurt before Francois V. Brown, 39, of Miramar, was arrested Tuesday at the county's south regional courthouse on Hollywood Boulevard.
On Wednesday, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million from the Broward County Commission to hire and arm deputies in four Broward courthouses and family court.
Read the rest of the article at:
To quote myself from JAABLOG's February 2, 2010 post titled Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me ...
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 9:29 PM
2/3/2010 1:40 AM Hallandale Beach Blog wrote:
First, some facts about Tuesday's vote on financing a new Broward County Courthouse, a story that only the Daily Business Review, JAABLOG and I wrote about. Not asking for plaudits, just noting it for historical context.
For those courthouse denizens who animate this blog with their constant contempt of Broward taxpayers thru your comments here, who think that a new Broward County Courthouse is very important, guess what?
The South Florida news media could hardly care less about you. You barely register on their horizon. You are insignificant.
In the days and weeks before the vote, the two daily South Florida newspapers and the four network TV stations sat on their hands and reported nothing about this issue. Neither the Herald or the Sun-Sentinel have mentioned this subject in print or online since last September, when a Guest Op-Ed purported to have been written by Comm. Stacy Ritter was published in the Sun-Sentinel.
Once again, on something very important, South Florida's news media has shown they were sleeping on the job, and let the people down.
Did you EVER see anything last year on TV about the ties that the members of the Lieberman-led Task Force had to the Broward legal establishment, who desperately want a brand new pony?
Preferably, with a brand-new barn and a lifetime supply of feed. On the taxpayer's dime. Nope. There never was one
Watching the coverage Tuesday night at 11 p.m., actually thinking there'd be some interviews -with somebody!- this point was drive home all over again.
At 11:16 p.m. CBS-4's Antonio Mora did a 15-second read without any visuals and said the vote happened "last night," which as we know, is incorrect.
At 11:27 p.m., Local10's Laurie Jennings also did a 15-second read
with archived visuals of yellow tape and leaking ceilings.
There's the press coverage of your shiny new pony.
And why is it that so few usually well-informed people actually know how poorly Lieberman handled the rigged Task Force last year?
I wrote last year on my blog how she and the county administrators didn't follow basic aspects of the state's Sunshine Laws, and instead, tried to fool the public by arranging for the agenda and assorted relevant public docs for the last meeting, which should've been online before the meeting, to be placed online HOURS AFTER the last meeting was already over.
Not that they actually had the final public meeting listed online days before the meeting, since they didn't. Lieberman was the one in charge -the Chair. But the media didn't care -just like now.
Keep up the great work, JAABLOG!
-----------------------------
In case you forget how that vote for taxpayers paying for a new Broward Courthouse went, voting in favor: Ken Keechl, Stacy Ritter, Ilene Lieberman, Al Jones and Diana Wasserman-Rubin.
Voting against: Sue Gunzberger, Lois Wexler and John Rodstrom.
