A security guard with the private firm American Guard Services strikes a pose by the Fourth Street entrance to the Humboldt County Courthouse. | Photo by Ryan Burns.

PREVIOUSLY

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The Humboldt County Courthouse won’t go unguarded after all — at least, not for the next year and a half or so.

After informing the county last June that it could no longer afford to pay its share of the bill for public security screening at the courthouse’s two public entrances, the Humboldt County Superior Court this week managed to secure stopgap funding through the county’s Community Corrections Partnership (CCP), a probation advisory body financed primarily through through the state. 

Sheriff William Honsal informed the Outpost this afternoon that this temporary solution had been found. It comes two weeks after the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted to pull the county’s share of funding for security screening, citing budget constraints.

On Tuesday, Honsal told the Outpost via email that he and County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes met last week with Presiding Judge Kelly Neel and Court Executive Officer Meara Hattan to continue the courthouse security discussion. 

Given the county’s budget woes, the Sheriff’s Office had developed a plan with the county’s ADA Compliance Office to move security screening to the second floor, where all the courtrooms are located.

“Although it is not ideal, we had to work within budget constraints to ensure security needs are met,” Honsal said. “We all agreed that keeping security screening at the [first and ground floor] entrances would be the best case scenario.”

To that end, the officials present at last week’s meeting discussed appealing to the state for additional court security funding. On Tuesday, Honsal said, “The courts are preparing a funding request, and we believe there is a good possibility the funding will be approved, allowing screening to be funded for the remainder of this fiscal year and next fiscal year.”

Today, he confirmed that the request had been granted. 

“CCP voted on Wednesday to accept the Superior Court’s proposal for stopgap funding for Courthouse entry screening,” he said via email. The partnership granted $400,000 to cover security through next fiscal year (June 2027).

“This will provide time for the Superior Court and the County to work together to request more state funding for court security and court security screening,” Honsal said.

For many years now, the two main public entrances to the courthouse — one on Fourth Street and the other on Fifth — have maintained security screening for everyone coming into the building, complete with private security guards, body scanners and X-ray machines to check for weapons. 

Since 2012, the cost of these services has been split between the Sheriff’s Office (17 percent) and Humboldt County Superior Court (83 percent). But last June, the court told the county that it could no longer pay its share of the bill (about $17,790 per month), and despite months of back-and-forth negotiations, no solution was found.

At the January 7 board meeting, County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes said she and Honsal recommended ceasing all courthouse security screening services as soon as feasible. The supervisors agreed, though they directed Honsal to develop an alternative plan. 

The impulse to maintain some level of security screening makes a lot of sense when you consider what people have tried to bring into the courthouse over the years. The Sheriff’s Office used to proudly announce what-all had been confiscated and/or rejected by security screeners. Way back in 2011, for example, the HCSO released an 18-month inventory that included three guns, more than 2,000 knives, hundreds and hundreds of other sharp objects, 52 bullets and much more.

In 2015, the office issued a more comprehensive tally that included two dozen guns, 28,400 knives, 1,102 metal forks, 687 can openers, 33 pairs of handcuffs and more than 1,000 handcuff keys. 

Two years later, a local attorney “forgot” he was carrying a loaded handgun in his briefcase when he tried to enter through security, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Four years later, a Eureka resident was arrested after allegedly trying to get through with a loaded gun in his backpack. 

The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t released a security screening tally in years. On Jan. 7, the Outpost filed a Public Records Act request, asking for a comprehensive list of the items confiscated at the courthouse last year. The Sheriff’s Office responded 13 days later, saying, “There were no illegal weapons or drugs confiscated in 2025.” Our bad, for using the word “confiscated.”

The Sheriff’s Office explained that prohibited items are not confiscated; rather, those who try to bring them in are simply asked to remove them from the building before entering.

We wrote back, saying we what we were after was a list of those things — the prohibited items people tried to bring in over the course of last year — and we reminded Sheriff Honsal that his department used to publicize such lists in press releases. 

Earlier this week, Honsal said his office would work on that refined request. Thanks to the stopgap funding, though, the results will be more of a curiosity than a warning of what the public might encounter inside the courthouse in the near future.