Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Security at Supervisors’ Offices Beefed Up in Wake of Break-Ins
County supervisors didn’t spread the news around, but there had been several late-night break-ins at their Hall of Administration offices, and some checks and cash had turned up missing. Supervisors wondered just how secure the place really was.
A sheriff’s deputy answered the question nicely. Dressed in civilian clothes, he strolled onto the fifth floor where the supervisors’ offices are located and made it all the way into some of their private offices without being questioned by anyone.
A security study revealed that almost anyone with knowledge of the Hall of Administration could take a ride on the supervisors’ private elevators at any time of the day or night.
In response to the report--plus a number of crank threats, and general anxiety over international terrorism--a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said that steps had been taken to tighten security. He refused to elaborate.
There was word, however, that electronic surveillance equipment had been installed in the Board of Supervisors’ meeting room, and that locks had been changed on the fifth floor. A button to summon emergency help also had been installed.
The full extent of the beefed-up security was being kept as secret as possible “because that is exactly what some crazy nut would love to know,” said one supervisor’s aide.
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