BATON ROUGE — A city-parish employee was sexually assaulted at Baton Rouge's City Hall last Wednesday, and police say no suspect has been identified.

Baton Rouge police confirmed the assault to WBRZ. The building sees a constant flow of government employees and members of the public passing through its front doors, with little to no screening in place.

Metro Council member Darryl Hurst acknowledged the reality many visitors face.

"A lot of times when people come to city hall, they're frustrated and need answers," Hurst said.

Baton Rouge resident Angela Roberts said the situation calls for stronger measures at the entrance. 

"When you pass through the courthouse, you pass through security," Roberts said. "They scan the bags, things like that. They should have the same measures there."

This is not the first security concern at City Hall. Last December, a man armed with a knife was detained outside Mayor-President Sid Edwards' office.

Metal detectors are visible inside the building but have not been turned on, while metal detectors and bag searches are common at other city and state government buildings.

"We're the safest we've been in twenty-something years, right now," Mayor-President Sid Edwards said. "When we first came in, it was open air. We've taken some great measures."

Those measures include employee doors with key card-only access, bullet-proof building materials to protect Metro Council members during meetings and plans to hire private armed security to guard the front door. Edwards said hiring private security instead of police officers saves taxpayers money long term.

"We want to make this building—at all costs—as safe as we can," Edwards said.