Judges taken off Allegheny County real estate Web site
Security concerns cited in wake of shootings

Friday, June 03, 2005
By Mike Bucsko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Next time you want to find out the value of the home of a member of the local, state or federal judiciary who lives in Allegheny County, be prepared to employ shoe leather instead of your fingertips.

That's because the names of more than 100 judges were removed this week from the county's real estate Web site, so it is no longer possible to search for their properties by name. It is still possible to search by name at the county Property Assessment office in the County Office Building on Forbes Avenue, Downtown.

The reason the names were removed?

Security.

Though the decision was made by County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, the initial request to remove the names of judges came from the other end of Grant Street from Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose.

Ambrose, concerned after the murder of a federal judge's family in Chicago in February and courthouse shootings in Atlanta a month later, talked with Common Pleas Court President Judge Joseph James a few months ago about the security of local judges. Security was not a new issue, but it took on a greater sense of importance after the violence in Chicago and Atlanta, Ambrose said yesterday.

"It's a big issue in the federal judiciary," Ambrose said.