Officials in the secretary of state's office want to meet privately with state lawmakers to talk about tightening security at the Capitol and the changes could inconvenience some people and be expensive to implement, the secretary of state's chief deputy said this week.
But Doug Matayo, chief deputy for Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin, declined to elaborate on the office's ideas for improving security at the Capitol.
Matayo told the Legislative Council's Executive Subcommittee on Thursday that officials in Martin's office want to meet privately with lawmakers, since "it involves Capitol security and potentially some very sweeping changes that we may wish to propose."
Some lawmakers have questioned whether the current safeguards are adequate, after security was tightened at the entrance to the Big Mac Building west of the Capitol.
In a letter to Martin earlier this year, subcommittee members said they "have grown concerned that the current policies and their implementation may be insufficient to ensure the safety of our members, staff and other individuals within the State Capitol Building on a daily basis."
In response, they received a memorandum from Capitol Police Chief Darrell Hedden outlining steps that could be taken to make the building more secure.
Among other things, Hedden said the Capitol could be closed on weekends and holidays and a traffic tunnel beneath the steps and next to the east entrance could be closed to the public.
"All security operations should be consolidated under The State Capitol Police," Hedden wrote. Additional officers could be hired and private security guards no longer be used, he said.
The Capitol police force includes 22 officers and dispatchers, according to Martin's spokesman Laura Labay.
The House has hired a few private security officers to aid Arkansas State Police troopers in providing security in the House during recent legislative sessions, said House spokesman Cecillea Pond-Mayo. The Bureau of Legislative Research has hired Securitas of Little Rock to provide a few officers to secure the entrance to the Big Mac Building west of the Capitol, said bureau Director Marty Garrity.
In addition, "all events by outside parties should be discontinued at Capitol Hill [Apartments] as well," Hedden wrote, referring to a state-owned complex northeast of the Capitol where many lawmakers stay during the session. It's also a place where receptions are frequently held so legislators can mingle with groups during the legislative session.
"All agencies and persons involved must have a clear understanding that with every increase in security to any facility, there never can be a decrease without clear compelling reasons to do so," Hedden warned. "It has been my experience that once a procedure is put in place it almost can never be taken away. ...
"Ultimately the State Capitol and all other facilities can be secured as tight as humanly possible, but this will take a major and lasting financial commitment from all parties involved especially the legislative branch where all budgeting is derived," Hedden wrote.
Neither Hedden nor Matayo cited any particular cost estimates.
Labay, the Martin spokesman, said Friday that "we haven't put [these options] into any type of plan" for implementation, and the secretary of state hasn't sought more state funds for them.
Matayo told lawmakers Thursday that "we would prefer [discussing ideas to improve security in the Capitol] in a more private, perhaps in an individual basis, with the members of this subcommittee and first and make sure that we get with y'all."
He said officials in the office already have met individually with Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, and House Speaker-designate Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, about "a few matters.
"But we also would like to get an audience at the appropriate time with Gov.-elect [Asa] Hutchinson as well and try to bake into that cake, if you will, the input he may have, the expertise that he has obviously with his homeland security background and also with his executive team's input and his security's team input before we roll anything out other than very limited changes," Matayo said. Hutchinson is a former federal Homeland Security undersecretary.
"But I think we can all agree that there may be some things we need to do privately in advance of a formal-like meeting that's public," Matayo said.
Dismang asked whether there would be any changes implemented before Martin's office meets with lawmakers.
"If there are any changes, they will be very small and I'll be happy to make sure that's communicated to this group," he said, adding it's possible "a rope line or something like that as it pertains to the elevators" will be placed on the first floor of the Capitol building to make sure visitors go through the metal detectors.
Dismang suggested the elevator is a problem; it is accessible at times to visitors who haven't been screened for weapons. "I think there was a goal to try to secure the elevators because they are prior to going through the metal detectors and you have plenty of people try to take those [elevators] before you go through the proper security protocol."
"Right now, it is our policy that anyone that is unknown to us that's not wearing an ID badge, even if it's staff, will go through the scanners" at the entrance on the first floor, Matayo said.
"But we are considering some other very sweeping changes that frankly will inconvenience a lot of people, and we want to make sure that is best can be determined agreed to or at least tolerated if you will by members and some of them have a big price tag, which may be cost prohibitive, so we definitely want to be careful there and be good stewards of the tax dollars as well," he said.
"We are one of the rare Capitols where people still have access to their elected officials, and we like that, but we want to be cognizant of the need for safety and security for members and executive officers that still work out of this building so that's this balancing act," Matayo said.
A section on 11/22/2014