DA’s office completes security upgrades

Published 7:00 pm Monday, March 28, 2022

ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa County District Attorney’s Office recently completed a security upgrade to enable better services to the public, while also improving the safety of employees, clients and the victims they serve.

The DA’s office also encompasses the county’s Victims’ Assistance Program and Child Support Enforcement Program and works with a variety of people from all walks of life.

“It allows people to be more safe while working in and doing business in the office,” District Attorney Rebecca Frolander said. “Now we have doors that are more difficult to breach.”

A new bullet-resistant security window makes it so the public no longer has to call ahead for an appointment, she said.

“It allows us to serve members of the public in the hallway,” Frolander said. “It also is more convenient in the office.”

Formerly, the office had to have a locked-door policy.

“That was the only way we could address security issues,” she said. “It was very inconvenient. With our new ballistic pass-through window, we can deal with the public directly at the time they are seeking assistance.”

The security upgrades cost $31,290.54, Frolander said. That was up from an initial estimate of $26,848 that didn’t take into consideration a higher prevailing wage or the cost of the building permit or shipping of materials.

“Through a combination of funding sources including the Victims of Crime Act funds administered through the Oregon Crime Victims and Survivor Services Division, the Oregon Department of Justice which authorizes reimbursement funds for costs related to Child Support Enforcement, a grant from the Wildhorse Foundation to improve public safety and the support of the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners, the District Attorney’s Office was able to accomplish this project,” a press release stated.

Frolander said the original VOCA grant was expanded by $10,000 to address COVID pandemic-related issues, and the grant covered $17,640.76 of the total project, including the door for the Victims’ Assistance Program, and the bullet-resistant pass-through window, the building permit, half of the shipping expenses and the closed-circuit camera system.

The Wildhorse Foundation was asked for a grant to pay for 1-1/3 of the bullet-resistant doors and it came through with $7,955. The DOJ reimbursed the county $4,504.43, for two-thirds of the cost of the door that is the main access to the Child Support Enforcement Office, and two-thirds of one quarter of the shipping costs. However, Frolander said, her office had to take another $1,190.35 out of its general budget to complete the project.

The upgrades were completed March 3 by Cody Aschenbrenner and his team from Silver Lining Construction. Working in phases beginning in September, the workers were regularly plagued by delays, primarily caused by shipping of materials and the need to work around scheduled trials.

The COVID pandemic brought into focus the need to restrict access to individual offices and also provided an opportunity to better protect the office staff and the victims of crime for whom they seek justice.

The project was the culmination of three years of gathering funding to improve safety of the office and the people it serves.