The Southold town board is considering two options for a new justice court facility — either constructing a new building, to the tune of $3 million, or utliziing the Peconic School on Peconic Lane.
The board met with Judge Rudolph Bruer and new justice court director Leanne Reilly, as well as other town staffers on Tuesday to discuss both short and long-term solutions to justice court security issues.
Reilly said the town was awarded a $16,850 grant for justice court, with $2,500 allotted for construction and $14,350 for security to include a walk-through metal detector, a hand scanner, training, calibration, and a dolly to move the metal detector. In addition, funds could be used to install bulletproof glass on the dais where the judges sit, but Reilly said, after consulting with justices, the decision was made to hold off on the bulletproof glass until it was clear if a new facility would be built, as long as the metal detector was installed.
The check for the grant, she said, “is in the mail” and should arrive soon. The metal detector is the first improvement planned.
Councilwoman Jill Doherty, who sits on the committee formed to discuss the future of the justice court, said the board might consider hiring a new justice court officer at some point; at a field trip to Southampton, a model of two court officers was successful, she said.
Long term solutions, Doherty said, could include a new facility on the property located behind Town Hall. That building could either be a pole barn sturcture or a modular construction; the modular option would provide storage space in the basement for town records. The base cost of that new facility would begin at $3 million, Doherty and Town Engineer Jamie Richter said.
Councilman Jim Dinizio said perhaps the town should look into consolidating and said, with the lease of the Capitol One building set to expire in 2018, and costing $63,000 per year, the time has come to think about replacing that space.
The Peconic School, he said, could be used for a temporary court; the building he said, remains largely empty. “It’s underutilized,” he said. Arraignments could be held in smaller rooms, he added.
Russell said the school was purchased with an eye toward growing the town’s recreation programs and generating income.
Doherty said she and the committee have tried to find another building in the town’s inventory but have been unsuccessful.
Another idea pitched was to add modular structures to the back of Town Hall, but security remained a challenge in the building because residents needed to be able to utilize the lobby when coming for beach passes or other issues.
The new court facility out back, Doherty said, could be built in stages.
Russell agreed and said the new building could be expandable in a way that the current Town Hall has never ben.
The need is urgent, Bruer said, adding that defendants are waiting three to four months “until they can be heard. And they’re entitled to be heard.”
“We wouldn’t be talking about spending the money if we didn’t have a problem, but I’m wondering if we need to spend $3 million if there are other ways,” Dinizio said.
Doherty suggested going back to the drawing board to craft a design for the Peconic Lane school — and said both the Peconic School and a new building were options to be explored.
Recently, the board said they were taking “short term” steps to address what some consider potentially deadly conditions in the justice court.
In October, just days after sending a letter pleading with the town board to focus safety in Southold Town justice court, court officer Cappabianca announced his resignation.
Southold Town Justice William Price spoke out to SoutholdLOCAL about the lack of security in the town’s justice court.
“Safety is a serious issue, especially for people in the gallery,” he said. “The severity of the issue was brought to the forefront some years ago when a questionnaire was given to all employees within Town Hall as to what dangers they perceived — and they perceived that the justice court on Fridays was extremely dangerous.”
Eventually, court dates were split so that traffic violation cases were seen by town justices on Mondays, with criminal cases slated for Fridays.
“That has helped,” Price said. “Before that, I would have a person with an expired inspection sticker sitting next to a person charged with some form of domestic violence. This separated the less serious from the more serious offenses.”
When asked if he has concerns for his own well-being, Price said, “Of course I worry about my own safety, and I worry about the safety of other people on the bench with me. I worry primarily about the people out in the gallery, because they’re sitting there completely unprotected. Safety is a major issue.”
After Cappabianca cried out about justice court conditions he deemed unsafe and possibly deadly, the town board headed to Southampton’s justice court in Hampton Bays to seek ideas and solutions.
Cappabianca has said he believed the lack of security could prove life-threatening at Southold Town justice court, a facility that sees a high volume of cases each year.
Cappabianca, a former senior special agent for the U.S. Customs Service and a former law enforcement officer for 27 years, assigned to U.S. Secret Service protection detail, said he believed he was qualified to address the issue of security in the courtroom.
During his time at Southold Town justice court, Cappabianca said he took “approximately six to eight knives” from defendants standing directly before the judge and right next to the assistant district attorney.
“Two of these knives were classified as illegal weapons and resulted in the arrest of the owners. I was only able to observe the knives because the owners failed to completely conceal them,” he wrote. “I could not even begin to venture a guess as to how many other knives and other weapons are concealed and carried into and out of the courtroom, on any given date, by both defendants and visitors to the court.”
Defendants, Cappabianca said, “are from all walks of life” and some, even gang members.
There are no security checks of bags, he added, and no metal detector at Town Hall, where justice court is held.
“There are too many scenarios and reasons why people will commit a violent act,” Cappabianca wrote. “The town has been extremely fortunate that no acts of violence have yet occurred in the courtroom.”
Over the past three years, Cappabianca said he experienced “two to three incidents with defendants that could have easily gone from verbal to physical.” He added, “I believe the town is being short-sighted regarding the courtroom security. One unfortunate incident in the courtroom could result in physical bodily harm or, in the worse case scenario, death to one or more individuals” such as innocent bystanders or court personnel.
Cappabianca said if the town were to secure a magnometer, or metal detector, “a significant threat to security could be diminished.”
Price said before the market crash, the board had explored a separate facility for justice court and plans were even drawn up.
As it stands, he said, “The town meeting room is designed to be a meeting room. It’s not designed to be a courtroom. The letter that our court officer wrote was extremely accurate. There is no place to segregate prisoners brought from the county other than in the jury box.”
In addition, there is no other usable location than within the meeting room to pay fines; in most courts, fines are paid at a separate window, he said.
The justice court trailer is used for storage, too, Price said, with “cluttered” files because there is no room for file cabinets. “We do not have anywhere the sufficient storage we need for our files,” he said.
