Several courthouses in the northern part of Wisconsin do not regularly screen visitors for weapons, but a firearm discovered recently in one of them is highlighting that lack of security in public buildings in rural counties, as well as a reticence by elected officials to pass the high costs of upgrades on to taxpayers.
As reported by The Badger Project, a courthouse cleaner found a gun in the Langlade County Courthouse in Antigo just after 5 a.m. July 16, according to a criminal complaint from the Langlade County Sheriff’s Department. The firearm, which had been stashed behind a toilet in the third-floor men’s bathroom, sat on top of a handwritten note containing the name of a jail inmate who’d recently testified in an attempted homicide trial.
The day the gun was found, the Langlade County Sheriff’s Office arrested Harout Hosepian, who faces seven charges, including carrying a firearm in a public building and carrying a concealed knife.
Hosepian was seen on camera in the courthouse on July 15 and entered the bathroom, as well as the offices of the county clerk and district attorney, according to the complaint. That day, Hosepian carried a backpack and a cane. Authorities later discovered the cane concealed a serrated sword.
“This was also a big factor in helping with the decision to build a new courthouse,” Shawano County Sheriff George Lenzner said. “It will provide safety and security for our courthouse employees and safety of the public. We are one of the few courthouses in the state that is wide open.”
Shawano County is building a $121 million courthouse and jail housing unit. Among the features will be a main entrance for all visitors to be screened and a secure entrance for inmates making court appearances.
Like Langlade County, the Shawano County Courthouse does not currently screen visitors. Unlike in Antigo, which limits the public to one point of entry at the courthouse, members of the public in Shawano County can enter any of three doors.
“We have discussed numerous times and continue to keep this discussion open in our safety meetings,” Lenzner said. “Unfortunately it does always come down to money and the current design of the outdated courthouse that we currently have.
“If we were to do this, the county would have to invest in screening equipment, extra manpower and close off two of the three entrances. The other problem we have is only one entrance is handicap accessible, so it would be the south entrance that we would have to leave open.”
Marathon County – with an estimated population of 139,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – features the most intensive form of courthouse security in northcentral Wisconsin, including metal detectors and an X-ray machine. This system, installed in 2017, cost more than $300,000, along with additional employee costs to operate the station, according to the Wausau Pilot & Review.
The costs of security equipment, space, and staffing can be off-putting for local governments in rural municipalities. Residents like their taxes low, Circuit Court Judge John Rhode said during the Langlade County Public Safety Committee meeting on Sept. 10, and bolstering courthouse security would require “horrendous amounts of money.”
“If we do millions of dollars on upgrades to our security, it’s going to raise taxes,” Rhode said. “It’s not a popular thing. But I think we have to have the courage to say, we have to properly protect and care for our people and provide the services that we need. We can’t just keep wishing and hoping and being relieved that nothing bad is going to happen.”
Langlade County Sheriff Mark Westen told the committee he’d proposed security upgrades to the courthouse about eight years ago, but the county board scrapped the plans over the estimated costs.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
