Operating a court building today is by its very nature a risky business. Day in and day out, court buildings are visited by a large volume of disgruntled and even lawbreaking citizens. Moreover, court buildings can be seen as an important symbolic target for those who wish to wreak mischief or terror.
In an effort to assist courts in the development and implementation of effective measures for court building security, NCSC has developed Steps to Best Practices for Court Building Security. The Steps to Best Practices sets forth guidelines for what constitutes best practices in various areas of court building security. It also sets forth steps in phases that can be taken toward achieving these best practices. These steps may be a useful approach for courts as they strive to prioritize and implement improvements in court building security.
The NCSC wishes to emphasize that a fully effective integrated level of security will be reached only when all the measures at the best practices level are incorporated. Recognizing that these measures at the best practices level can at times be costly, the Steps document provides these steps in phases, so that a court at its discretion can adopt incremental improvements before reaching the level of best practices. These steps in phases are plateaus along an ascending path to improvement – an improvement that can be achieved by a court over time.
The Best Practices were first published in 2010 with significant updates published in 2013 and 2016. A revised 4th edition of the Best Practices document is anticipated to be completed in 2021.
Physical and operational court security assessment projects
- Assessment of security governance, management and internal communications
- Assessment of security plans, policies, and procedures
- Assessment of security staffing
- Assessment of security technology and infrastructure
- Assessment of physical security design to include detailed facility architectural analysis, development of long-term facility planning strategies, concept development and cost benefit analysis.
- Cybersecurity assessments (in coordination with NCSC IT experts)
- Security incident after-action analysis and assessment