Firestorm of debate
Just last year, Gov. Kasich said this:

"The one thing that I’ve wanted for a long time is I would like metal detectors in the Ohio Statehouse."

That sparked a firestorm of debate. Kasich’s predecessor, Gov. Ted Strickland, had his working office in the Statehouse and didn’t want metal detectors.  But Kasich, whose working office is not in the Statehouse, said he thinks security needs to be beefed up at the state’s capitol. But Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board spokesman Gregg Dodd disagreed.

“We’ve had no incidents here on Capitol Square in the history of the building and that’s because we do have many security measures in place."

Existing security 
Dodd said the Statehouse is actually one of the most secure buildings in the state, even though visitors might not see much of it. 

“This is post 97 of the Ohio Highway Patrol and we have several cameras throughout the complex, both inside and outside, that are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  And we do have several doors of the Statehouse with limited access.  And certainly we have several members of the Ohio highway Patrol patrolling both the grounds and interior of the building.  In addition, Jo, we have two K-9 units that are assigned to the Statehouse that certainly help with any bomb detection.”

In addition, Dodd said the Statehouse meets with the highway patrol on a weekly basis to assess the security needs of the building. And he said the Statehouse already has four portable metal detectors that can be set up with less than a half hours notice.

“They are onsite. They are constantly checked to make sure they are working so they are ready to go. The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board feels that the security measures in place are certainly adequate and they balance open access along with security.”

Costly plan 
Dodd said permanent metal detectors would likely cost more than a million and a half dollars and would deter public access to the building, especially if some of the 90,000 school children who visit each year might be left standing in the cold, rain or bad weather, waiting for their tour. 

Joe Andrews, of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said the point of the security study being sought is not to make a case for permanent metal detectors at the Statehouse.

“I don’t think that anybody has said permanent metal detectors need to placed here. I think we’ve just asked for the study to determine whether they need to be there.”

When asked why weekly security meetings with the highway patrol staff on site were not enough, and why the temporary metal detectors now available at the Statehouse are rarely used, Andrews responds this way:

“The Highway Patrol people who are there posted are not necessarily the experts who look at the entire infrastructure of the building.  And so what we are doing are taking a look at the entire process and what we’d like to do to determine whether the security needs to be increased.”

Andrews said he doesn’t know how much it will cost to do the security study. But he says proper security at the Statehouse is important. 

“Anything could happen at any time. I think 9/11 made us all aware of that.”

The Statehouse’s Gregg Dodd said 23 capitol buildings throughout the country have permanent metal detectors. He said several have put them in and pulled them out pretty quickly because they are cumbersome. 

One footnote here - metal detectors detect metal - not intentions to be disruptive. During Governor Kasich’s first State of the State speech, metal detectors were not in use and one protestor spoke out during the address. On the other hand, metal detectors were in use at the Governor Kasich’s second state of the state speech at an elementary school in Steubenville and nine protestors had to be removed.