CHEYENNE, Wyo.—The Wyoming Highway Patrol has begun checking rooms at the State Capitol with a bomb-sniffing dog before public meetings.
“Any time we have an event like this in the Capitol, we will come in and sweep the room,” Lt. Scott Minyard of the Wyoming Highway Patrol told members of the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities at their meeting Monday. A dog swept the room before the meeting.
Minyard said the Highway Patrol got a trained black Labrador about a month and a half ago. The state Office of Homeland Security has had four bomb-sniffing dogs for the past few years.
Minyard said no particular threat or incident prompted the additional security.
“It’s just our way of continuing to provide protection of the State Capitol in a post-9/11 world,” Minyard said.
Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, said Homeland Security bomb dogs swept the Capitol during the last legislative session.
“After 9/11 and after what happened in Colorado, I think we are being more vigilant, which is very, very nice,” Illoway said.
There have been two recent security incidents at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. On July 16, a member of Gov. Bill Ritter’s security detail shot and killed a man armed with a handgun outside the governor’s office. Earlier this month, a man shouting threats was arrested after shattering the window of a locked door on the building’s east side.
Colorado lawmakers agreed last month to increase security at their Capitol by posting more state troopers and security guards. They also are using metal detectors, an X-ray machine and hand wands to increase security at the building.
Sen. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, mentioned the two Colorado incidents during Monday’s meeting. He asked whether Wyoming should be screening visitors.
Illoway said that isn’t likely to happen. He said Gov. Dave Freudenthal has opposed screening visitors. Illoway said he expects there will be an incident in the Capitol someday.
“We always refer to it as the people’s house,” said Sen. Jayne Mockler, D-Cheyenne. “But it isn’t. It’s the seat of government.”
Mockler said the Wyoming Constitution specifies that the building belongs to the Legislature.
“I know the first floor does not want anyone to be checked coming in,” Mockler said, referring to the governor and the three other elected state officials who have offices there.
Minyard said every state is dealing with the same security issues. He said the Highway Patrol has an aggressive training program for troopers assigned to the Wyoming Capitol.
Both the Wyoming House and Senate have a new panic alarm system integrated with the patrol’s system at its desk on the first floor. Minyard said the system also includes alarm pendants that the sergeants at arms in both chamber can wear around their necks.
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Information from: Star-Tribune,
