A knife allegedly brought into Jacksonville City Council chambers during Tuesday night’s council meeting is raising security concerns.
The man accused of bringing it in, Conor Cauley, is charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
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His attorney argued during his first appearance, that the knife is a pocket knife, and therefore not considered a weapon under state law, but Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters disagrees.
“A knife that can stick someone and cause major damage to them is a weapon, and I think most people agree with that. I think the people watching and listening would agree with that,” Waters said.
While people can legally carry concealed weapons into city hall, state law prohibits weapons from being carried into city council meetings.
Because of that distinction in state law, additional security measures are in place to screen people before entering City Council meetings.
How the knife allegedly made it past those measures is unclear, but city officials are already looking into potential security changes.
“I believe it would be prudent to sit down with JSO and see if we need to make any adjustments so we can keep our citizens of Jacksonville safe,” Council President Randy White (R-District 12) said in a statement sent to Action News Jax.
Waters noted JSO only provides security inside council chambers.
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“We’re gonna make sure our city council leaders are safe at all times,” Waters said.
The screening of attendees is conducted outside the chambers by First Coast Security.
“Moving forward, we have directed First Coast Security to train their officers on this style of concealed weapon, and to conduct extra inspections of all personal items going into the Council Chambers,” Mayor Donna Deegan said in an emailed statement.
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Waters expressed relief in the fact Tuesday night’s incident didn’t result in anyone being injured.
“Knife wounds, those things are very, very dangerous. So, I know the mayor is going to look at it and she’s going to address that with her folks over there at City Hall to make sure that they do everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Waters said.
In addition to screening people’s personal items when entering council meetings, the mayor also said a full security review of City Hall is being conducted, “including potential equipment upgrades, staffing changes, and vendor options - as we get closer to the current security vendor contract expiring in September 2025.”
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