Starting next month, visitors to the Leighton Criminal Court Building will no longer be able to store their smartphones in county-provided storage lockers before passing through the security checkpoint.
The Cook County Department of Facilities Management is removing the storage lockers from all court facilities by April 2. The smartphone ban at the Leighton court building, located at 2600 S. California Ave., will remain in effect.
“At the Leighton Criminal Court Building, my particular concern is that people who are relying on the county’s storage lockers won’t be able to clear security and will miss court if they bring a smartphone,” Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans said in a news release about the lockers’ removal.
Evans sets the court rules, but the court facilities across the county serve as a mingling point for various agencies who report to different countywide officers. The facilities management department reports to the office of the Cook County board president, while building security duties fall to the Cook County sheriff’s office.
There are 680 lockers countywide, according to Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle; 320 of them are located inside court facilities while the remaining 360 are outside.
The smartphone ban has been in place at the Leighton court building for three years. Evans said smartphones, which can take photos and video and connect to the Internet, were being used to photograph jurors and witnesses.
The Cook County sheriff’s office maintains a blanket ban on cameras and recording devices, but that did not explicitly preclude smartphones from Leighton.
“Our justice system must operate free of fear or harm, and we cannot let gang members and others try to intimidate the people who come to court every day to play key roles in our courtrooms,” Evans said in the release.
Evans, in an April 12, 2013, interview with the Daily Law Bulletin, said he decided to hold off on implementing a cellphone ban at 12 other court facilities until more storage lockers could be installed. But since then, the cellphone ban has not expanded beyond 26th Street and California.
A spokesman for Evans indicated the ban will remain as-is for the time being.
“We haven’t had the volume of complaints at other courthouses like we had three years ago at Leighton,” said spokesman Pat Milhizer. “But a similar smartphone order remains under consideration at other courthouses.”
The smartphone ban exempts current and retired judges, attorneys and their authorized employees, journalists, domestic violence counselors and others.
Visitors to the court building were able to store their smartphone in the lockers for a $3 charge. But the facility management staff has continually found contraband stored in the lockers as well — knives, drug paraphernalia and other illegal items visitors didn’t want authorities to confiscate in the security line.
Facilities Management employees are not trained to handle illegal contraband like law enforcement officers are, Shuftan said.
“They are not officers. They should not be put into that situation,” Shuftan said.
Both the sheriff’s office and the Cook County department of homeland security raised concern the lockers were not being sufficiently monitored by law enforcement, Shuftan added. The sheriff’s office did not return a request for comment.
“There are significant security concerns about having lockers in areas that are not appropriately monitored by law enforcement personnel,” Shuftan said. He said he could not quantify the amount of illegal contraband the county has recovered from these lockers, or how often it is found.
The department initially informed the chief judge’s office on Feb. 19 that the lockers would be removed from the courthouses on March 7, Shuftan said. Evans answered the department’s letter asking for more time. The removal date of the lockers was eventually pushed back to the close of business on April 1.
Milhizer declined to say whether the chief judge’s office approved of removing the lockers.
“We don’t take a position on what the county, as the owner and operator of the facilities, decides to offer to the public,” Milhizer said.
Both Shuftan and the chief judge indicated they are worried that people will arrive at Leighton for court proceedings with their smartphones and be denied entry.
People who drove to the courthouse could always store phones in their car, but that does not address those who arrive by public transportation.
The announcement from the chief judge’s office details the risks posed to people who are unable to store their smartphones at Leighton.
Subpoenaed witnesses could be held in contempt of court; family and friends of victims and defendants could miss hearings; and others could have arrest warrants issued for them.