Following my Radio Derb comments on the Atlanta horror, I have had a number

of emails from law-enforcement folk and court officers, expressing disbelief

at the sloppy and hazardous procedures apparently in force at the Atlanta

courthouse. The following is representative. (I have removed some

identifying information.)

“Dear Mr. Derbyshire—I listened to your commentary on the Atlanta

shooting. I would like to add some information to it. I am a [**]-year

veteran Senior Court Officer of the New York State Courts. I am assigned

to the [****] County Court where I serve also as a training officer. I have

read only accounts of the shooting and have not spoken to any witnesses and

I can tell you there is a serious need of policy change, or some heads

should roll as a result of world class negligence on the part of the court

security unit.

“Firstly, while it may be law in the state of Georgia regarding a handcuffed

inmate being presented to a jury, we face the same problems in NY.

However, we solve that problem by bringing in a defendant, uncuffing them

and seating them. When we are all in place, the jury is produced and we

proceed. We are in relatively close proximity to the defendant. The jury

may surmise anything they wish, but they cannot make decisions based on

surmise and supposition. It is common in fact for a defense lawyer to

openly admit his client is incarcerated and that incarceration is not an

indication of guilt. I am stunned that this is not practice in the Atlanta

court system, perhaps it will be now.

“As far as the sole officer escorting an inmate: This is close to insanity

and if this is their policy, I’m surprised that this hasn’t happened before.

No officer, is EVER allowed to escort an imate by themselves in a NY

courtroom. No officer unless it is an emergency situation is armed near an

inmate.

“We recently had an individual attempt an escape from a court room. He was

6′ 4″ about 220 lbs. It took 5 fairly large sized officers to subdue and

handcuff him. All 5 officers required medical treatment afterwards and one

officer is still out on sick/injured leave. Unlike television and movies,

handcuffing an uncooperative person while maintaining professional restraint

is a most difficult task. When he returned to court at the next appearance,

he had numerous escorts plus added units deployed in the courtroom. Guess

what — not a peep out of him.

“I hope that this was an aberration in Atlanta and was not foretold by the

programs, policies and budget considerations of the Atlanta Court System.”