TASK FORCE TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF JUDICIAL FACILITIES

Appointed by Governor: Brian K. Albert; Samuel L. Cogen; Wanika B. Fisher, Esq.; Marcus Harris; Marcus G. Jones; Dawn P. Luedke, Esq.; Robert O. McCullough; George L. (Lenny) Pfeffer, Jr.; Carl Schinner; Elizabeth Theobalds.

Appointed by Senate President: one vacancy

Appointed by House Speaker: one vacancy

Appointed by Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Maryland: seven vacancies

Ex officio: E. Gregory Wells, Chief Judge, Appellate Court of Maryland; Audrey J.S. Carrion, Chair, Conference of Circuit Judges; John P. Morrissey, Chief Judge, District Court of Maryland; Athena Malloy Groves, Chair, Conference of Orphans' Court Judges; Helene T. Grady, Secretary of Budget & Management; Atif T. Chaudhry, J.D., Secretary of General Services; Carolyn J. Scruggs, Secretary of Public Safety & Correctional Services; Roland L. Butler, Jr., Secretary of State Police; Natasha M. Dartigue, Public Defender; Timothy D. Haven, Director of District Commissioners, District Court of Maryland; Sean B. Wolcoff, Chief, Security Administration, Administrative Office of the Courts; Jason Alan DeLoach, Esq., President, Maryland State Bar Association; Richard H. Gibson, Jr., President, Maryland State's Attorneys' Association.

c/o Administrative Office of the Courts
Maryland Judicial Center, 187 Harry S Truman Parkway, Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 260-1540; fax: (410) 974-2169; tty: 1-800-735-2258
web: www.mdcourts.gov/aoc/index.html

Maryland Judicial Center, 187 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis, Maryland, February 2020. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

In December 2023, the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Maryland originally formed the Task Force to Ensure the Safety of Judicial Facilities. In June 2024, the General Assembly authorized it by statute (Chapters 414 & 415, Acts of 2024).

Minimum requirements for courthouse safety will be identified by the Task Force. These are to encompass: number of security officers that should be present in each type of judicial proceeding in a circuit court or in the District Court; qualifications for security officers; standards for secure entry and exit of judicial officers from court facilities, including for secure parking and, if such parking is not connected to the courthouse, secure transit between parking and the courthouse. The minimum requirements also will cover standards for safe public areas of courthouses, including protection of judicial officers who are required to enter public areas of the courthouse in performance of their public duties. A legislative proposal to ensure that these minimum requirements can be met will be devised by the Task Force. Further, the Task Force is to identify any physical security deficiencies that currently exist in courthouses, and develop a plan to address them.

Authorization for the Task Force ends June 30, 2026.

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