Work begins on hardening federal courthouses
Portland OR September 12 2023
Scaffolding has begun for the installation of a large airplane hangar-type folding door to protect the front facade of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse.
Work began Tuesday on the construction of what will be a large, airplane-hangar-type door that can be lowered to protect the front facade of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland’s downtown.
Scaffolding went up to provide a protected, covered walkway for visitors as work proceeded
on the installation of the enhanced security door.
Construction is anticipated to be completed by next spring.
The downtown federal courthouse became the focal point of mass demonstrations that began after the May 25, 2020, killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police, leading to doors and windows at the courthouse being boarded up.
A fence remains standing along the west side of the courthouse on Southwest Third Avenue. Concrete barriers line the perimeter and plywood boards still cover the glass entrance doors and most of the lower-level windows of the courthouse.
In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Congress approved $112.5 million to support upgrades to “harden” about 100 to 150 federal courthouses “against individuals or groups seeking to breach court facilities and disrupt the judicial process,” according to a report by the the U.S. Courts’ administrative office.
Through early February 2021, the cost of cleaning up vandalism, repairing broken windows and washing off spray-painted graffiti at Portland’s federal courthouse added up to $1.6 million.
Courthouse construction and security projects are funded from the General Services Administration’s budget.
David Mery, building management specialist for the GSA’s Oregon field office who works out of the Portland federal courthouse, described the new door being installed as a bi-fold-type door. A worker explained it will fold up like an airplane-hangar door. Mery declined to discuss cost of the project or whether other federal courthouses are getting similar security doors.
Cristina Chidester, a Western regional spokesperson for the GSA, did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday.
According to a fiscal report to Congress on court security, the judiciary has been working with the U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Protective Service and General Services Administration to analyze security measures to “harden each courthouse.”
Among the measures planned “to stop individuals and groups from breaching court facilities and disrupting the judicial process,” are replacing windows with break-resistant glass, securing exterior doors with “break-resistant glass or glass film, roll down gates,” and installing automatic door locks that can be operated by security officers at guard stations. The security steps also detail “anti-scalable fencing, where needed, to protect the perimeter of the facility.”
“These measures are a first step toward hardening facilities and can be implemented relatively quickly when compared with more significant measures to redesign and renovate entrances, perimeter spaces, and interior public spaces, which will take more funding and longer to complete,” the report says.
The report estimated the renovations to courthouses will range from approximately $300,000 to $3 million per building, depending on the courthouse size and design.
