Franklin County Commissioners statement on Bomb Threats at County Buildings

Following standard safety procedures aimed at keeping the public, county employees and courtroom officials and visitors safe from harm, Franklin County Commissioners were notified and have been monitoring a series of bomb threats made against County-maintained buildings Monday morning.

Earlier today, the County was notified of a threat against an unnamed courthouse. Following strict safety protocol, the County’s trained court security officers stopped all entry to the County’s Government Center (the Common Pleas Courthouse, the Municipal Courthouse, and the offices at 373 South High Street). Court security officers worked closely with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Columbus Police Department to determine that no threats existed at either the Common Pleas Courthouse or at the citymaintained Municipal Courthouse. Later in the morning, an additional threat was made at the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency (80 East Fulton), which was also determined by trained security teams to be unfounded.

Below is a statement by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners:

“Safety is our top priority and we appreciate the swift actions of our trained court security officers, the Sheriff’s Office, and our first responders to ensure that employees and visitors in our county-owned buildings were kept from harm. Immediate actions were taken to clear the buildings and determine the validity of these bomb threats. These standard safety procedures and the training of our security personnel are designed to quickly address any threats made against our facilities and to protect employees and the public. While knowing most bomb threats are unfounded, we remain vigilant in ensuring this safety and take seriously any threat to the operation of our public services and the county’s justice system. We hope those who are responsible for these dangerous threats - and for the disruption of vital public services - are identified and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”