Whangārei District Court. Photo: Google Maps
Lawyers are fearful of being attacked at court and want urgent improvements to courthouse designs to keep them safe.
In March 2023 Family Court lawyer Brintyn Smith was brutally attacked in the Whangārei courthouse lift, leaving him with multiple injuries - including a fractured sternum, nose and thyroid, extensive bruising to the face and a concussion.
In May, a lawyer was attacked in the Levin courthouse, and in early September an Auckland barrister waiting in a corridor at the Auckland District Court was punched to the ground, kicked in the head and stomped on.
The Law Association says many lawyers were scared of attacks due to the rising number of unpredictable and unruly people coming through the court system.
The physical design of most courthouses offered little to no protection, vice president Julie-Anne Kincade KC told Nine to Noon.
Lawyers in each district had been discussing how things could be improved, raising problems like tight spaces, a lack of security cameras in lifts and stairwells, and frosted glass in interview rooms so security guards could not monitor them, she said.
They were described as critical but easily fixable issues.
"That can add to the stress that everyone will always feel coming to court. If you add to that some of the financial issues people are having, maybe they have mental health issues, you really do have a tinderkeg [sic] of problems which are then sort of squashed together in one place."
Ministry efforts
In a response, the ministry said it was "continuing to invest in solutions to security issues as they are identified, working closely with our sector partners".
"In recent years, the changing security landscape has required us to continuously improve how we keep people safe-whether it's our staff, court participants, or the judiciary," deputy secretary of corporate services Kelvin Watson said in a statement.
"We have a wide range of measures in place to reduce the chance of incidents happening, and to limit the impact if they do. These include things like building layouts, court security officers, security screening, CCTV, and administrative measures like training, and clear procedures."
Watson said work was in place to replace older lifts, and the ministry was investigating putting CCTV in court lifts across the country.
It was hiring security officers to fill two vacancies at Auckland District Court, Watson said, and duress alarms were "strategically located throughout the building".
There were disparities between different court buildings around the country, she said - newer ones were state-of-the-art, while some had problems "peculiar to those buildings".
"Recently, the ministry invested in upgrading the security control room which increased oversight and efficiency across the courthouse.
"We have also improved the safety and security of court participants at Auckland District Court by upgrading custodial docks in all 14 courtrooms, as part of the National Dock Upgrade programme."
As for visibility issues in interview rooms, Watson said frosted glass was installed "with the input of the Law Society" - but the ministry was "happy to discuss" whether it remained appropriate.
'One-size-fits-all'
The ministry acknowledged there had been an increase in security incidents in the last two years.
But officials seemed to be looking for a "one size fits all" solution, Kincade said.
"When we ask for what we think are small fixes like removing the frosting, we have [been] met with resistance - but I'm really hoping that resistance is being removed, and that will happen soon."
Security and court staff were doing their best in "very difficult circumstances", and helped run security inductions for lawyers at court buildings, she said.
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