Tennessee’s courtrooms will soon have new minimum security standards, in the first adjustment made on this issue since the 1990s. The new standards were decided on by the Tennessee Judicial Conference and the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference, and say they will be in place “to promote the security and safety of the members of the judiciary, court personnel, and the public.” In the past year, there have been at least three major security breaches in Tennessee courthouses, including a serious weapons incident. The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) began the process of modernizing courthouses statewide recently by awarding 66 Tennessee counties a total of $2 million to improve courthouse security. The AOC received 70 grant applications requesting $5,769,923 in funds during its 2017 Court Security Grant Program. The AOC has requested money for courthouse security from lawmakers in 2018. The 2017 funds enabled the AOC to provide counties with more than 23 hand-held metal detectors, 22 x-ray machines, 25 walk-through metal detectors, 14 security training sessions, 18 bullet proof benches, 20 panic button systems, 12 access control lock systems, 13 video arraignment systems, and four sets of surveillance equipment. Before the grant program, nearly half of Tennessee counties did not meet the previous minimum standards while others had serious security deficiencies. For example, in many Tennessee courthouses, visitors could walk in one of multiple entrances without encountering any security measures, courtrooms lacked direct emergency communication to law enforcement, and there was often no secure way to transfer or house incarcerated defendants attending a court appointment.