Chesco Justice Center Forced to Shut Down

The Chester County Justice Center closed Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. following power outages in the building, primarily affecting elevators as well as lights and power supplies to courtrooms and offices in the buildings upper floors.

Two power interruptions had been reported in the building leading to a decision by Chester County Common Pleas Court President Judge James P. MacElree II to order the building shut down for most of the afternoon.

How Big is the Task of Shutting Down a Major Court Building?

The Justice Center at 201 West Market St. houses the Court of Common Pleas Chester County and many related offices.

Chester County Sheriff Carolyn "Bunny" Welsh, whose department oversees security in the building says closing the building off schedule is a big task but was done without incident.  "It's a very big deal," Walsh tells West Chester Patch, "because you have (at least)800 employees, probably a thousand members of the public."

By 3 p.m. Friday Sheriff's deputies had cleared the building and were answering questions from surprised members of the public who arrived at the front door, unaware of the problem.

• Stay on Top of Breaking News and Developments. Follow Patch on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Couples Marry During Evacuation

Walsh tells Patch that two couples were scheduled to be married in one of the more ornate courtrooms on an upper floor of the building, one at 1 p.m. and the other at 2 p.m.. Walsh says the weddings were instead conducted in a first floor area as the building was being closed. She did not know the names of the couples and because the offices closed early that information was not available to Patch Friday afternoon.

Source of the Problem

Sheriff Deparment Lt. John Freas is in charge of building security. He tells Patch the problem was with Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) power supplies coming into the building and not with electrical facilities within the building. He said PECO was working on resolving the situation and that lights and essential functions were being powered by back-up generators while PECO worked to resolve the problem.  Freas says PECO reported that the problems did not appear to be related to Friday's heavy rains.

Freas says all prisoners who were in the building for court appearances were returned to Chester County Prison or other holding facilities without incident.