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Weapons screening approved for suburban courts

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Mar 14, 2012 at 9:00 am

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Weapons screening will be set up at Hennepin County's suburban courts following safety concerns raised by a judge and a recent shooting at the Cook County courthouse.

The county board voted Tuesday to install walk-through metal detectors at the Ridgedale court in Minnetonka and Brookdale court in Brooklyn Center by the end of April. Visitors to the Southdale court in Edina will be screened with handheld wands because of the cost to rebuild the entryway to accommodate a walk-through detector.

Hennepin County District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman recently refused to hear cases in the suburbs because of lax security. Zimmerman's concerns were raised several weeks after the shooting in Grand Marais in which a prosecutor and witness were critically wounded.

The Star Tribune says the suburban courts don't handle felony cases.