Balancing security and personal freedom (03/23/04)

It’s all a matter of balance.

In a free society, we want to be secure but not at the cost of the freedom we value so highly.

And the fact is — as the Jay County Commissioners noted Monday — there’s no way to guarantee security 100 percent of the time.

For the commissioners, the question was the Jay County Courthouse, but they might as well have been talking about any public building.

The commissioners have already expressed concern about response times and procedures when “panic buttons” are pressed in courthouse offices, and we suspect they’ll continue to hash out the issue with Sheriff Todd Penrod in the weeks and months to come.

But equally tough are issues like concealed weapons, metal detectors, and screening devices. Some counties have gone so far as to leave only one door open to the public, with crash bars installed on the other doors so they can only be used as exits in an emergency. Others have installed expensive screening systems.

Both seem completely over the top for a rural courthouse in America’s heartland.

The public wants to come and go from its courthouse freely; and while we want policies and safeguards in place to make the courthouse as safe as possible, the fortress mentality holds no interest.

In the end, ultimately, it’s all a matter of balance. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]