Full Time Security Returns to Governor Wolf

Starting Monday, a deputy sheriff will be once again be on guard at the Governor Wolf building, home to a variety of county offices.

County Executive John Stoffa made the announcement at the Thursday night's county council meeting, calling it an unfortunate reality of today's world.

This isn't exactly a new concept for the Governor Wolf building, located on Second Street between Northampton and Spring Garden streets. In fact, it's only in the last two months or so that the building had no security at all, said Kevin Dolan of the department of Children and Youth, one of the county agencies in the building.

And in that time, Easton police have been called three times to respond to incidents, Dolan said.

Although there a few different county departments using the Governor Wolf, it's the nature of what Children and Youth does that makes security in the building necessary.

"Sometimes it doesn't go smoothly," Dolan said. There are angry parents, custody issues, and older children with behavior problems. He thinks having a deputy sheriff on duty will have a calming effect.

"It nullifies most of the situations," Dolan said. "Once they see a deputy is here, the behavior calms down before it escalates."

The issue has been come up a few times over the years, with budget cuts and changes in administration altering the level of security in the building. At one time, unarmed court services officers -- known in courthouse circles as "bluecoats" -- were on duty, said John Mehler of the county's Agency on Aging. At other times, the county has hired private security.

"It's been a concern in the building overall," Mehler said, going back at least 15 years.

There's never been a security issue at his office, he said. It's not that things can't get tense; his workers deal with cases of elder abuse and neglect.

But when having to confront someone suspected of abusing a senior citizen, the case workers do that at the county courthouse, where security is plentiful.