Two Montgomery County, Maryland, judges say they are seeing an increase in unruly and threatening behavior and contend it’s become an increasingly serious issue.
Two Montgomery County, Maryland, judges say they are seeing an increase in unruly and threatening behavior and contend it’s become an increasingly serious issue.
At a Montgomery County Council Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday, Circuit Court Associate Judge Debra Dwyer told council members, “The behavior of individuals who come into our courthouse has escalated into just outrageousness.”
In a recent family court case, she said, “One of the litigants was just out of control. … He was yelling, screaming, carrying on and I asked my law clerk, ‘Please, get a sheriff.’”
Judge James Bonifant, a Montgomery County Administrative Judge, told the council panel that a defendant in a case “appeared at an employee of the courthouse’s home at 10 o’clock at night on a Sunday night.” Adding to the unease, Bonifant said, the court employee was at their parents’ home.
“We don’t know how that individual got that information,” he said.
Bonifant said another concern about courtroom security extends to the safety of jurors. He told the committee that it was imperative that the courts be able to keep information about jurors confidential.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve had at least two cases, that I can think of off the top of my head, where there’s been jury intimidation,” he said.
A county council staff report submitted to the committee on Monday outlined a number of recommendations made by the State Task Force to Ensure the Safety of Judicial Facilities. That December 2024 report recommended making sure that there’s adequate security staff in courthouses, secured parking and additional security in public spaces within the courthouse.
Specifics in the report included adding quick-lift gate systems to courthouse parking facilities, installing video intercoms and providing security escorts for judicial officers.
Inside courtrooms, the task force suggested adding “level 4 bulletproof glass in vulnerable areas,” and installing video surveillance in all public areas and hallways.
The state report also recommended having at least one court security officer in the courtroom whenever a proceeding is in session, having a second security officer when someone in custody is in the courtroom and adding a “roving” security staff member on floors that have one or more courtrooms or judicial chambers.
The formation of the Maryland State Task Force to Ensure the Safety of Judicial Facilities followed the killing of Judge Andrew Wilkinson, a Washington County Circuit Court judge, in October of 2023. Wilkinson was shot to death in the driveway of his home.
In Montgomery County, security is provided by the Sheriff’s Department, and at Monday’s council committee meeting, Montgomery County Sheriff Max Uy told council members: “We’re unfortunately facing roughly a 20% deficit in our front-line staffing,” adding how his department has “shifted resources to support our court needs.”
As the discussion on hardening courthouse security continued, Dwyer told the council members that it’s important to preserve “access to justice.”
“People understand they can walk in that courthouse, there’s a family law self-help center, and they take advantage of it — and that’s a good thing,” she added. “The people that we deal with — the public — I think that they are frustrated over a variety of things in their lives. And we — judges, sheriffs in uniforms — are taking the brunt of that sometimes.”
Uy told the council members, “This is a very safe courthouse, but we always want to do better.”
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