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State Capitol increases security after lawmaker shootings
Capitol security officers have permanently locked 10 doors to the public Wednesday as part of their effort to protect state employees and visitors to the Capitol complex. People can still access the building through four doors on the south side.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Getting into the state Capitol looks a lot different as of Wednesday.
Tighter security
Doors deleted:
Capitol security has tightened in response to the assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attempt to kill Sen. John Hoffman, (DFL-Champlin), and his family.
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State Capitol tightens security after Minnesota lawmaker shootings
Getting into the state Capitol looks a lot different as of Wednesday. Capitol security has tightened in response to the assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attempt to kill Sen. John Hoffman, (DFL-Champlin), and his family.
Up the steps of the Minnesota Capitol, signs now funnel the public to a single pair of doors where they can walk in.
"It assures that we can staff the doors that are open to the public," said Col. Christina Bogojevic. "So you'll see a higher Capitol security visible presence as you walk into the Capitol."
Uniformed Capitol security officers are always near the main entrance, and they’re also watching two more doors a level below, which are open for people with accessibility issues.
Before June 14, the public could walk through 14 doors — at three entrances — during business hours.
A loose end?
Door check:
But the Capitol has at least 40 doors, and FOX9 checked them all.
Four are open to the public. One is boarded up, 34 wouldn’t budge. But we opened one without a key card.
The Department of Public Safety is in charge of Capitol security and their chief told us they do a lot of door checks, but they’re still working out gaps like we found.
People's House potential
Checkpoint challenge:
They've made sure a lot more officers have been visible throughout the building since the Hortman assassinations.
But legislators have the biggest role in deciding security measures at the Capitol.
A few of them have told us they want people to be able to observe and address their representatives without making it difficult.
But they also want to make sure state employees and visitors feel safe across the entire Capitol complex.
It’s all connected by a tunnel system where each door could have to be a checkpoint if they decided to add metal detectors.
That’s one consideration for an independent security review team reporting back to the DPS chief.
"Across the nation, Capitol security looks very different from Capitol to Capitol," said Chief Bogojevic. "And so I'm really hopeful that this third party assessment will point to some of those things and give opinion to some those things that we can bring back to legislative leaders."
What's next:
The legislature’s advisory committee on Capitol security meets in two weeks.
One of its members is Rep. Jim Nash, (R-Waconia), and he told us he’s hoping that outside analysis will give them a list of options so they can pick out what’s possible, what’s necessary, and what they can afford.