Police have pledged an improvement in security arrangements at the Magistrates Court.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Alan Bissell vowed to do everything he could to ensure protection and safety was a priority in and around the court precincts.

He was speaking after recent public comments by Magistrate Ed King on the presence of Police officers in courts and after outbursts by defendants in the building.

And the matter came to a head on Friday when Mr. King refused to start a hearing until an officer could be found to sit in the room.

The case eventually began after lawyer Kim Wilson found a Policeman in the building, who could stay during the proceedings.

And the situation arose on the previous day when the Magistrate had an officer -- who was in the court on another matter -- bring a man before the court for disrupting the matter in hand.

Again, there was no dedicated court officer in the vicinity.

Mr. Bissell said plans had been made to minimise any problems in the future.

He said his officers were doing the best they could under current staff shortages to provide a service at the courts.

"We have made other arrangements so that should not be a problem in the future,'' he said. "There will be an officer in the building and we will endeavour to see an officer in each court.

"We are responsible for providing security in the courts and as a matter of practice it is easier if we have an officer in each court. We try to do that at all times but it is no secret we are short of manpower.'' Mr. King had also made public his fears about the Police response when the court panic button was activated but Mr. Bissell said if the panic button was pressed there would be an answer.

Senior Magistrate Will Francis said there was no rule that he knew of that said a Police officer had to be in each court.

He added that he had taken courts on many occasions when there had been no officer present and at other times he had no idea if there was a Police presence in the building while cases were proceeding.

Previously, he added, prosecutors had also been Police officers but increasingly they were Crown counsels -- leaving the daily plea court as the only session guaranteed to have officers present.

But he said Mr. King was correct to raise the issue if he was concerned about security.

"If he felt threatened he would want to make sure officers are around if anyone felt like raising some issue or getting out of control,'' he said. "He would want them to know he was going to have strict control before he started.

"I haven't been threatened before or felt under threat, but I know it is always something that could happen and I am always aware of it.'' Mr. Francis said the matter had been raised before and it would be his role to talk to the Police about security at the courts.