State House Security Criticized Again

We’ve got a confession to make …

When we sent a stuffed animal to the South Carolina State House two months ago to conduct an independent review of the building’s security system, “Mister Mouse” didn’t actually conduct a review … and he isn’t really a “security expert.”

It may shock you to hear the truth … but the whole thing was part of a pre-school class project for Shorty.

Fact is, we needed someplace cool for “Mister Mouse” (the class mascot) to visit so that all the other pre-schoolers would pay proper homage to how Shorty rolls.

The end result of our excursion, however, was the exposure of one of the biggest boondoggles this state has ever seen … $6 million worth of security equipment updates that not only weren’t needed, but (much like everything else in this state) apparently didn’t work.

Anyway, two months later, our friends over at WIS-TV have decided to follow our groundbreaking investigative journalism series with a little investigative piece of their own on the subject.

And guess what … the new security system still doesn’t work …

“… the gate on Sumter Street provides a perfect example of just how ineffective the system is.

It is supposed to be restricted access, but while we were there the lights weren’t on, the gate was always in the up position and there was no one there to check who was going out or coming in.

Another gate nearby separates a parking lot from a sidewalk. That control arm was also left up.

Many state employees ridicule the system, especially those issued electronic ID cards to enter the garage.

We saw why. Time and time again, the device that’s supposed to read the cards and automatically raise those control arms failed to recognize the cards.

Often a security guard had to take the card from a driver and wave it in front of the sensor. Sometimes that didn’t work, and the guard had to raise the gate manually.”

All we can say is way to go, South Carolina. Once again.

Maybe we need to elect some stuffed animals to the General Assembly to get anything done in this bass-ackward state.

“Representative Mouse,” anyone?

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