Allen County courts to ban cell phones starting Tuesday

By The Associated Press

FORT WAYNE - Cell phones and other electronic communicators will be banned from the Allen County courts beginning Tuesday.

People will not be allowed to take phones, pagers or other electronic devices into the buildings. The only exceptions to the new rule will be for attorneys with court-issued identification cards and county employees with their proper county identification badges.

Signs have been up for about a month in and around the county's four court buildings.

''Our building and courts across the country are called temples of justice,'' Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull said. ''The reason it's akin to temples is because of the solemnity of things going on. When you get ring tones going off, inappropriate ones that we've all been exposed to in elevators and the mall, it interferes with what's going on.''

Besides the disruption, the ban also is for safety reasons because people have used their phones to take pictures and videos of attorneys, jurors, witnesses, victims and court proceedings, judges said. Indiana law bars cameras from most courtrooms.

Gull said the courts will make phones available to people who need them, and if the need becomes great enough, they will consider talking to the county commissioners about adding more phone lines and installing additional pay phones.

Sheriff's deputies will not hold anyone's cell phones at the front security station. They will tell people to put them in their cars or they will not be allowed in.

''We have no room to hold them,'' Gull said. ''We get over 1,500 folks a day just in the courthouse. That doesn't count the justice center, juvenile court or small claims. There's no way we could accommodate the numbers of phones, cameras and electronic devices that people carry.''

The ban will not only affect people coming to court hearings, but also groups that work daily within the system, such as the Fort Wayne Police Department's Victim Assistance; the state Department of Child Protective Services; and Court Appointed Special Advocates, also known as CASA.

Allen County Court Appointed Special Advocates Director Rex McFarren said the ban will affect several of their volunteers, who are not considered county employees, if court runs behind schedule.

Visitors also will no longer be allowed to take pictures of the Courthouse. Commercial photographers will have to schedule photos after the Courthouse is closed for the day.

Media cameras will be allowed inside the buildings during business hours, Gull said.