It was just a pocketknife.

But the commonplace tool — which a defendant pulled out in District Court last Monday and aimed at his own throat before being tackled by courtroom deputies — tore open a debate that goes to the heart of Lawrence’s identity.

Emotions run high every day inside the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St., and many employees there say it’s unbelievable the county doesn’t yet have a permanent metal detector or X-ray machine at the front door. Sheriff Rick Trapp wants to install the equipment. But others, including County Commissioner Jere McElhaney, argue that too much security at the building will threaten open government and Lawrence’s friendly way of life.

Attorney Charles Whitman, for example, said he doesn’t want the court building to look “like a camp down at Guantanamo” where everyday citizens would feel more unwelcome than they already do. He said without irony that the only way he’d accept a checkpoint was if security officers greeted people with a sticker and a smile.

“If we do it, there have to be flowers on the machine, and they have to be smiling and happy,” Whitman said.

Situation ‘ridiculous’

Lawrence is the biggest remaining county seat in Kansas in which people can walk unchecked through the front door of the court building.

“We think this is a great place to live, but we also should not turn a blind eye to the reality — to the kind of issues that are dealt with in this building,” said Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney, who supports increased security. “I do not believe you need to equate security measures with a hostile environment.”

The main courthouses in Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka and Olathe all added permanent security checkpoints during the 1990s — in part a response to the Oklahoma City bombing. In Olathe, for example, all entrants pass through an X-ray and metal detector, and deputies temporarily confiscate pocketknives at the door.

Security has become a hot topic around the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, sparked last week after a defendant pulled a small knife in court. The judicial center doesn't have a permanent metal detector or X-ray machine at the entrance. Douglas County Sheriff's Officers Ken Fangohr, left, and Robert Berryman, center, secure inmates who have just finished court appearances as Lawrence Police Officer Max Miller looks on.

Pat Doherty, maintenance supervisor for the Kansas City courthouse, said he was surprised to hear of the openness in Douglas County.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “In this environment, you don’t want to be the first ones … to find out somebody got through, whether he’s a terrorist or a disgruntled husband.”

Courthouses in smaller cities such as Salina and Manhattan — both of which are about half the size of Lawrence — don’t have permanent metal detectors.

“I think in the long run it’s a reasonable precaution,” said Hudson Luce, one of a number of local defense attorneys who support the idea. “Lawrence is becoming Overland Park. It’s becoming more and more urbanized.”

Douglas County unique?

But others insist Lawrence is an exceptional place and say the community shouldn’t succumb to post-Sept. 11 security fears. One proposal in the works is to buy the X-ray and metal-detector equipment using about $50,000 in federal tax dollars from an anti-terrorism grant.

Emergency officials to set priorities 6News video: Incident highlights need for courtroom security (5-3-04) Defendant pulls knife in court (5-4-04)

“I think al-Qaida has more target-rich environments to work in,” attorney Shelley Bock said. “I just don’t like the thought of coming up to some doggone machine and waiting in line. If I have to do that, it had better be on a trip somewhere instead of just going into court.”

It’s not as if Bock has been sheltered. In 1993, he was representing William H. Snavely III on child-molesting charges when Snavely was caught reaching for a homemade .22-caliber pistol he was concealing in a jacket pocket.

Still, Bock said he trusted “the honesty and goodness” of Douglas County residents.

Bock and others worry that putting up more security equipment actually would make people more likely to cause trouble.

“It imposes a different atmosphere,” he said. “It’s like everybody’s suspected of doing something wrong.”

Selective approach

Deputies now set up a portable metal detector outside a courtroom whenever officials decide the case being heard inside is potentially volatile.

For example, everyone had to pass through metal detectors to attend hearings for the men charged last year with killing Lawrence resident Quincy Sanders, whose distraught friends and family members often attended court.

Defense attorney Michael Clarke said he worried such an approach could prejudice jurors. County Commissioner Charles Jones said it could give rise to profiling complaints.

“I feel that the X-ray machine at the (main entrance) door is probably a more egalitarian way of doing it than putting it up and taking it down as we’re worried about particular cases,” Jones said. “From everything I’ve read, it’s not the case you think that’s going to cause the problem. It’s more like the standard domestic dispute.”

Taking chances

McElhaney is skeptical of the need for a permanent security checkpoint, which he said could be too intrusive. He dismissed last week’s knife incident, saying we live in a “take-chance world.”

The incident happened shortly after Judge Robert Fairchild revoked a 33-year-old Lawrence man’s probation and ordered him to jail for a year on DUI and theft charges. A deputy suffered a minor injury in the scuffle, but no one was seriously hurt, and Fairchild afterward praised the deputies’ work.

But the law enforcement center has offices on three levels, and deputies can’t be everywhere at once. Ron Stegall, the county’s chief executive probation officer, said most of his staff members supported increased security.

From time to time, they have to defuse situations with angry probationers in their basement office while calling for security.

“Happily, every time we’ve had to jump in, nobody’s had a weapon,” Stegall said.