The security department at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center is the first line of defense for illegal items entering the facility on a daily basis. Guards recently confiscated a set of brass knuckles from someone trying to enter the emergency department. While brass knuckles are unusual, potential weapons are not.
Getting into an emergency room is a lot like getting on an airplane; you must first pass through a metal detector.
Each year at OSU, visitors drop thousands of prohibited items into inspection trays, such as pocket knives, razor blades and utility tools.
OSU Wexner Medical Center's Security Director, Mike Mandelkorn, says those items are then secured in an envelope and temporarily confiscated. "The individual is given a receipt and when they come back, when they depart the E.D., we give them the item back."
However a few items leave guards like Tyler Hicks shaking their heads. “It was cool and odd at the time same,” Hicks explains. “It was a lipstick container. Well, it looked like lipstick, but it was actually a Taser.”
Around twice a month, people hand over a gun. Security officials must then check to see if the person has a proper CCW permit before securing the weapon at the metal detector and placing it in a safe.
Even patients brought by squads are checked for weapons. OSU police confiscate illegal weapons an average of 200 times a year.
Mandelkorn says the oddest item he found was a samurai sword. "Why would you bring that to an emergency department?”
The emergency team is grateful for the tight security. Staff members like Devon Shackle say they can work without worrying that they'll be hurt while trying help others. "It makes the environment safer here. It makes the staff feel more relaxed.”
All the illegal weapons, unlicensed guns, knives, brass knuckles, and swords are destroyed by campus police. If visitors forget to pick up their other property from security after visiting the emergency department, they have 90 days to retrieve it before it is destroyed.