Metal detector at City Hall may start trend

BURBANK — A new metal detector at City Hall could be a launching point for more security improvements in the city, which continues to deal with national and local events and the ongoing attempt to keep the public safe, officials said.

The detector was hastily called for before the Feb. 19 council meeting in response to a fatal shooting in Kirkwood, Mo., on Feb. 7 — in which a gunman killed five city officials, including two council members during that city’s City Council meeting — and the return the week before of a vociferous public speaker whom the city had previously had a three-year restraining order against.

Officials, fearing for their safety when the speaker — Burbank resident Edwin Guerrero — addressed the council on Feb. 12 with pounding fists and waving fingers, quickly resolved to get the detector outside council chambers.

The protective device, provided by the security firm Andrews International, will be at each meeting unless the council decides to go with a different strategy, a different company or get rid of the apparatus, City Manager Mary Alvord said.

The city is paying about $600 each night the detector is in use, she said.

“If the council decides to [find another company], it will go out to bid,” Alvord said. “We chose them because we knew they could materialize quickly, and they cut us a good deal. . . . They immediately came and met with us and agreed to put in the equipment.”

Burbank also added one extra police officer to the standard officer and Police Chief Tim Stehr, who attends the meetings.

Glendale city officials are considering various security options for City Council meetings, including metal detectors, said Yasmin Beers, deputy city manager.

“We are in the process of looking at options for council meetings, and metal detectors are one option at play,” Beers said. “Based on what happened in Kirkwood, there is a level of concern where you need to look at various safety measures.”

Like Burbank, Glendale stations a city police officer at each meeting, but there are no plans to add an extra Glendale officer to their weekly proceedings, Beers said.

The detector in Burbank City Hall sits feet from the council doorway in a thin hallway through which attendees must pass in order to enter and exit the chamber.