Grenade, Guns Smuggled Into NYC Courtrooms, Officials Say

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- New Yorkers in the city's courtrooms are at risk of violence similar to that seen in mob movies because court officers are overworked and understaffed, according to union officials advocating for hiring increases.

"Everybody has watched that movie the Godfather," Dennis Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association, said at a press conference Tuesday. "That can happen in each and every one of our court houses."

Dozens of court officers rallied outside the Brooklyn State Supreme Court Building at 320 Jay St. Tuesday afternoon to demand Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Office of Court Administration double the security stafff assigned to New York City's courtrooms.

The union reps warned they were ill-equipped to handle the plethora of weapons — including guns, brass knuckles and even a grenade — they say are routinely smuggled into courtrooms across the city.

"The safety of New Yorkers has become less of a priority," said New York State Supreme Court Officers Association president Patrick Cullen. "We have become less of a priority."

The 33 percent drop in court officers over the past decade has resulted in security lapses that sent 60 New York City court officers to the hospital in the past two years, according to Quirk and Cullen.

The union reps want the number of court officers who man the city's criminal and civil courts to double from 350 to 700, they said.

Union officials also complained they're still waiting for a $35 million training academy that the city funded about a decade ago that remains unfinished.

"Every day we have ambulances," said Quirk. "Sooner or later somone is going to die."

Photo by Kathleen Culliton