Metal detector beefs up security at LV council chambers

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.

Visitors will be passing through a metal detector at Wednesday's Las Vegas City Council meeting.

The $4,800 Meter 200 Multi-Zone metal detector, produced by Metorex Security Products, will be placed at one entrance to the council chambers. The second entrance will become an exit only, city officials have said.

The machine, which resembles a large door frame, has a row of lights along the edges. The lights are considered "multi-zone," which means they flash at the height of the metal the machine detects.

Officers spent much of Monday going over procedures, and urged people attending Wednesday's council meeting to take only what is necessary, because any objects brought into the meeting are subject to search.

In addition to the metal detector, other security measures in effect at the council chambers include sweeps by a bomb-sniffing dog before meetings, surveillance cameras and barriers that physically separate officials on the dais from the public.

City officials said there are no plans to add metal detectors in the main City Hall building, which is next to council chambers.

City Council members, who have a separate entrance to council chambers, will not have to pass through the metal detector. If someone accompanies them, officials have said, that person will be scanned with a metal-detecting wand.

Las Vegas also has a metal detector at the entrance to the Municipal Courts, located in the same complex.