SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No.
IN RE: ARKANSAS SUPREME
COURT COMMITTEE ON
SECURITY AND EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS
Opinion Delivered July 19, 2007
PER CURIAM
The Arkansas Task Force on Court Security was created to examine court security in
Arkansas and to make recommendations to the Supreme Court. See In re: Adoption of
Recommendations from the Arkansas Task Force on Court Security, ____Ark. Appx. _____
(February 1, 2007). In February, we responded to certain of the recommendations submitted by
the Task Force, including the adoption of minimum guidelines for court security and emergency
preparedness, and discussed the current state of court security and the need for improvements.
Id. We are pleased to acknowledge the General Assembly’s response to other recommendations
of the Task Force in passing The Court Security Act (Act 576 of 2007), which created the Office
of Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Director of Security and Emergency
Preparedness within the Administrative Office of the Courts, created a court security grant
program to provide funds to cities and counties to implement local security and emergency
preparedness plans for circuit and district courts, and established standards for persons serving as
court security officers.
One of the Task Force’s recommendations, which was previously deferred, was the
creation of the Supreme Court Committee on Security and Emergency Preparedness. The purpose
of the committee is to recommend and evaluate uniform state policies on court security and
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emergency preparedness and assist local courts in drafting and implementing local plans. Today,
we adopt this recommendation, create the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Security and
Emergency Preparedness, and appoint the initial members. The structure of the committee is as
follows:
Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Security and Emergency Preparedness
A. The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Security and Emergency Preparedness
shall consist of 17 voting members, appointed as provided herein. All subse