Goshen Courthouse to ban cell phones and other electronic devices

ELKHART COUNTY — A local courthouse is about to ban cell phones and other electronic devices.

A court order goes into effect January 2 at the Elkhart County Courthouse.

The move comes as security is being tightened. The idea of implementing a cell phone ban for courthouse visitors was considered by a study committee made up of judges, county commissioners, county council members and the sheriff's office.

“We have a court security committee,” said Mike Yoder, county commissioner. “So we've been looking at a variety of court security issues both in Elkhart and Goshen. So the idea of a cell phone ban was actually proposed by the judges. So we looked at various options to meet their desires.”

Judges, courthouse employees, and attorneys would be exempt from the ban. Visitors, once inside, would be able to put their phones in special temporary lockers.

“As I understand it, they will be able to have a secure location to lock those up while they are in the courthouse, in the courtrooms, and then they can pick them up on the way out,” said Yoder.

The Elkhart County Sheriff's Department says it has a variety of and number of safety and security issues with cell phones in the courthouse from time to time. It keeps officers assigned to the courthouse there busy and on the look out.

Captain Michael Culp is with the sheriff's office.

“As far as cell technology and other personal devices, the technology is there for folks to do a lot of things that are prohibited in court proceedings and creates pretty significant disruptions,” said Culp.

The use of cell phone cameras is a concern.

“There's a lot of sensitive matters that take place in the courthouse and surrounding anything from you know, from civil to criminals matters. By eliminating the phones and some of those personal electronic devices, that the hope that it will alleviate some of the challenges that we have trying to keep an orderly system in place for the courts to conduct their business,” said Culp.

A way, he says, for people to come to the Goshen Courthouse and feel safe.

The cell phone ban will only be in affect for the County courthouse in Goshen, not the one in Elkhart.