Cook Courthouse Storage Lockers To Return
(CBS) – Storage lockers will once again be available to visitors at Cook County's Leighton Criminal Court Building, beginning Monday.
Lockers were removed early this month over security concerns, but county officials announced Friday that various departments agreed to a revised system at the courthouse at 26th and California.
The biggest change: Storage lockers will be set up beyond the security checkpoint that visitors must pass through. This way, people will not be able to store contraband in a locker. The lockers primarily were to be used for smart phones, which are banned in the courthouse.
"Our plan going forward promotes both public safety and public convenience in the courthouse," Chief Judge Timothy Evans said in a joint news release.
"The return of the lockers is simply the right thing to do, and this is a great day for the thousands of courthouse patrons who require the use of their phones to go about their everyday lives," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says.
Three years ago, Evans issued a ban on cellphones at Leighton after 19 judges reported varying levels of cellphone misuse in their courtrooms. Some individuals were illegally using their smartphones in courtrooms to take video and photographs, officials said.
A private vendor is being sought to manage the locker system on a permanent basis.
