Capitol security loosened by '03

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 16, 2007 at midnight

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Quickly after Sept. 11, security at Colorado's graceful Capitol was sharply tightened. Entrances to the building were limited and visitors were searched and sent through metal detectors.

Only two entrances were kept open and visitors passed through metal dectors and bags were searched. The dome was also closed.

Similar measures were taken at other city buildings, such as Denver's City Hall and the federal buildings, such as the Byron Rogers courthouse.

Security at those buildings has remained in place.

But by 2003, the state Capitol moved to a much looser regime. Metal detectors were removed and bags were no longer searched, according to former Sen. Dave Owen, a Republican who served at the capitol for 19 years.

Owen, longtime chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said lawmakers faced a budget crisis in 2002 and determined that the cost to maintain that level of security was too high. Other state capitols were making similar decisions, Owen said.

"There was big debate," Owen said this afternoon. "The state patrol came in with a number — a couple of million dollars to beef up security. They wanted to add more state patrol. We didn't buy it. The idea was this was the people's house. We wanted people to have access to it.

"We were in a budget crunch and we didn't want to spend the money," Owen said. "Security went on and off. It was on for awhile, then they looked at security levels nationally and took it off."

smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474

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