More security cameras planned at Grant County Courthouse
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 8 months AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | July 14, 2020 11:52 PM
EPHRATA — Grant County officials will add more cameras at the Grant County Courthouse after a theft from a parking lot.
The parking lots around the courthouse don’t have cameras, said central services director Tom Gaines on Tuesday, but cameras will be added, starting with the parking lot behind the Law and Justice Building where the theft occurred. The Law and Justice Building houses the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Grant County Jail.
The courthouse does have a number of cameras recording public spaces around the building. The cameras allow people in the courthouse to know what’s going on in case of a disturbance outside, Gaines said.
But some of the exterior cameras are in need of repair, Gaines said, and cameras are limited on the interior. Some will be added, and others repaired or upgraded, to increase security.
More cameras also are being installed at the Grant County Fairgrounds, after acts of vandalism in early April. “There became a need when people started kicking in doors,” Gaines said. Vandals cut holes in the fence, kicked in the doors of a number of food booths belonging to non-profit agencies, and painted graffiti on buildings. Additional cameras have been installed, and more will be installed, as a result.
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