The Entire Washington County Courthouse and Justice Center Complex was left completely unsecured and unattended for over 4 hours Friday morning.
The entry doors operate on a time lock and were not reprogrammed for the Christmas Eve Holiday.
A friend of mine and I were looking for a notary and were amazed to walk right in the main doors and wander around the first floor with no one present. We yelled out for someone but got no answer so we proceeded to the Justice Center and to the County Clerk's Desk and still no one was around.
We eventually called the police dispatch to report the problem and it took about an hour for someone to respond.
It is the responsibility of the Sheriff's Office to secure the building. There was no security or anyone anywhere.
To be safe at this point the entire Courthouse and Justice Center needs to be searched for hidden weapons and suspicious packages but I doubt if that is going to happen.
The responding officers didn't even bother to check if anyone was in the building or if any vandalism had occurred. They spent a total of 5 seconds and didn't even write a report.
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