City of Lawton administrators are beginning to plan for security upgrades that will change how visitors get into Lawton City Hall.
Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk said he will meet Tuesday with representatives of Triangle Security Services, which already is providing security staff for city government’s main complex. Last week, City Council members voted a new contract into place, one that will increase the number of security guards Triangle will provide to the building. Duties for those CLEET-certified guards also will be expanded, and visitors who now simply walk into the building through the building’s west main entrance will be passing through a metal detector and having personal belongings such as bags and backpacks checked.
The measures are expected to go into effect in June.
Burk said the upgrades, which have been planned for months, are simply a reflection of today’s world. And, he said Lawton is behind the times in having such measures in place. For example, Comanche County added a metal detector and X-ray machine to its front entrance about 10 years ago.
“It will be similar,” Burk said, comparing the system the courthouse uses with what will be installed at Lawton City Hall’s primary entrance.
City officials actually had planned to implement the new security screening earlier this year, but delayed action until the security services contract could be amended and equipment ordered. A metal detector, estimated at $31,000, is one of the capital outlay expenditures included in the 2023-2024 budget. The biggest piece of the puzzle was placed when the council approved the contract with Triangle last week.
Burk said officials haven’t resolved all the issues — that will come with discussions this week — but what he anticipates is that visitors will pass through a metal detector, then have their personal belongings “wanded,” meaning a security wand will be used to ensure banned items are not inside. That wand will be replaced with an X-ray machine when the equipment arrives, Burk said, explaining that process will involve placing hand-carried items through the scanner, as the courthouse does now.
“It’s like the TSA process you go through at airports,” he said.
Burk said the new process will mean restrictions on items visitors can bring inside the building. The most notable: no weapons.
“No weapons at all. Leave them in the car,” he said, explaining that weapons, even those carried legally, are not permitted inside a government building.
Those who forget and carry them inside will be sent back to their vehicles to dispose of them; the city won’t hold weapons at the front desk, Burk said. Those new restrictions will be posted at the front entrance so people know about them before they enter the building.
The new measures are additions to precautions the City of Lawton already has taken. For example, the complex recently completed installation of security cameras inside and outside the building. And, security personnel already are present.
“We have officers throughout the building,” he said, adding it was time for the city to expand what it does. “It’s just a matter of stepping up our game.”
Other details still are being explored, including whether city hall will continue to have multiple access points on all four sides of the building. While visitors must use the main west entrance to enter the building, they can leave by any of the multiple doors. And, city staff — most of whom hold security access cards — can enter those security-controlled doors. That unfettered access may have to change, Burk said, designating many of those doors as “emergency only.”
“That’s part of the discussion,” he said.
Security upgrades may not stop with city hall.
“Other city facilities are looking at their security,” Burk said about potential security measures at the city’s recreation centers and Lawton Public Library. “It allows us to keep our staff safe.”
