HELENA — HELENA — More than $150,000 in security improvements are underway at the Lewis & Clark County Courthouse.
"When you go to improve, you start looking at all the areas you never had that coverage or where you truly need to improve what you were covering, not just the equipment itself," said Mac McCarley, the supervisor for Lewis and Clark County's public works building vision.
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The Lewis & Clark County Commission approved these upgrades during their April 29th meeting – awarding the contract to Pine Cove Consulting.
According to the contract, the project includes 28 indoor cameras – eight outdoor cameras, and one video intercom.
The contract also says selected cameras will provide the county with "90 days of footage with the option of free unlimited archives."
"Being able to access that, get it downloaded, and store it securely is always a good thing," said Sergeant Robert Kinyon with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office. "With the current system, we may or may not get the video footage secured. Having this system will improve that."
These improvements are being made nearly two months after Lewis and Clark County judge and court staff were allegedly threatened by a woman with a pistol at the courthouse.
The incident resulted in the death of the woman a couple of blocks from the courthouse.
"Some [of the] public are here on their own for whether it be a wedding license or a wedding," said McCarley. " Some [of the] public's here because they're court-ordered to be here. We're trying to make the premises as safe as possible."
About $121,000 of these upgrades are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which the county applied for a year ago.
The county says they are working on other ways to improve safety at the courthouse, like providing more training and possibly adding more deputies.
The county hopes these improvements will be completed by September 30th, 2025.
