Following a discussion last month with the Guthrie County Supervisors, no changes will be made to the county’s policy of banning all weapons from the courthouse.

The Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court issued a supervisory order that bans all weapons from courtrooms, court-controlled spaces, public areas in courthouses and other justice centers in the court system. Sheriff Marty Arganbright says they’ve had their current policy in place since about 2008 and there will be no changes made to that policy, following the supervisory order that was issued.

“We’re just going to keep it the way it was that any weapon, which includes guns or knives, are not permitted in the courthouse in Guthrie County.”

When the policy was put in place, Arganbright says they also limited entrances to the courthouse through the east entrance only and locked all the others from the inside. To further increase security, the Sheriff’s office purchased a metal detector last year, which has seen some use, but may see more in the future.

“We’ll use it if there was a need for it that we knew, ‘Hey there is a court case coming on that we needed to increase our security.”

To hear more from Arganbright, listen to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County program.