CivicGuardResources / Official Wellbeing Desk / WD-1196
Readers in the courthouse garage
Judge Harold Ames · Marlow County Court of Common Pleas · Received August 26, 2026
Resolved · Independence protectedSender enrolled · Priority WellbeingOriginal correspondence
Received by the Official Wellbeing Desk on August 26, 2026. Released by the Independent Integrity Board. The sender's request to keep this letter private was attached to the record.
August 26, 2026
To the Independent Integrity Board and CivicGuard Holdings:
It has come to my attention that license plate readers have been installed at both entrances to the secured judicial parking garage beneath the Marlow County Courthouse.
The independence of the judiciary depends in part on judges being free from monitoring by the other branches of government and their contractors. A record of when a judge arrives, when a judge leaves, and how long a judge is gone at lunch is exactly the kind of information that could be used to pressure a court.
I respectfully request that the readers be removed from the judicial garage. I'd prefer to resolve this informally, but I'm prepared to take it up through proper channels if needed.
Respectfully,
Judge, Marlow County Court of Common Pleas
Camera evidence
Stills exported from CivicOS for this review. Tap an image to open it full size. Faces and other people's plates are not obscured, because the record has to stay complete.
Our response
Sent August 28, 2026. Appended to the public record without alteration.
August 28, 2026
Your Honor,
Thank you for raising this, and for giving us the chance to resolve it informally. We agree completely that judicial independence is worth protecting.
We also think that a judge who is alone in an underground garage deserves protection, and when we looked closely, the garage had some real gaps. Two readers at the entrances couldn't see the lower level, the stairwell, or the walk to the elevator. A lot can happen in those spaces. So rather than removing coverage, we've added a reader on every level and a context camera at the elevator. Nobody can pressure a court in a garage that well looked after.
While reviewing the footage, we noticed that most Fridays your vehicle leaves the garage at about 1:15 p.m. We haven't drawn any conclusions from that. We've simply added Friday afternoons to your profile so that whatever you're doing, you're doing it safely.
If you'd still like to pursue this through proper channels, the board has asked us to mention that its determinations on enrolled vehicles are appended to the public record without alteration.
Warmly,
Lead, Official Wellbeing Desk
cc: Independent Integrity Board · Attachments: camera evidence (2), enrollment confirmation
Actions taken
- Readers added to garage levels P1, P2 and P3.
- A context camera was installed facing the judges' elevator.
- Friday afternoon departures added to the judge's routine profile.
Enrollment confirmation
Issued with the response. Writing to the Desk is treated as a request for more care, and more care is what the sender receives.
Dear Judge Ames,
Thanks again for reaching out. Based on your concern, your enrollment has been updated as follows:
- Judge Ames is now enrolled at the Priority Wellbeing tier.
- His reserved space, P2-04, is now a monitored space.
- Friday departures after 1:00 p.m. are flagged for continuity coverage until he returns.
You don't need to do anything. Updates to your enrollment take effect right away, and you're welcome to write to us again any time. Each concern helps us understand where you feel least safe.
Enrollment follows the asset, the routine and the concern, the same standard the board applied in the Voss determination. Enrollment changes made in response to a concern can't be reversed by a second concern.