When Should Police Be Called To The Library

Library staff should call police if they observe behavior or discover evidence indicating that the behavior has occurred:

• An individual threatens to strike or physically harm another individual, whether a library visitor or library employee;
• An individual strikes or physically harms another individual, whether a library visitor or employee;
• An individual threatens to damage physical property, whether a book, a computer, the library building, or a vehicle in the parking lot;
• An individual damages physical property, whether a book, a computer, the library building, or a vehicle in the parking lot;
• An individual refuses to leave library property after being asked to leave;
• An individual is using or possesses illegal drugs or is drinking alcohol and is publicly intoxicated;
• An individual views or prints out child pornography (photographs showing children engaged in sex acts);
• An individual engages in an act of public indecency. This includes:
  • Masturbation (fondling one’s own sex organs, breasts, or buttocks either directly or through clothing)
  • Fondling another person’s sex organs, breasts, or buttocks either directly or through clothing
  • Sexual intercourse, including acts of oral and anal penetration
  • Public nudity, including exposing one’s own sex organs to another person in a location where the individual can reasonably expect to be observed by other people. (Breast-feeding an infant is not an act of public indecency. When library personnel have a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed, the library personnel should use reasonable efforts to preserve any direct evidence of that crime and turn it over to the library director or library’s legal counsel.

Questionable or frequently cited activity which is not criminal includes, but is not limited to:

• Violations of library policy
• Abusive comments by library users that do not include threats of physical harm
• Adults viewing sexually explicit materials that are not child pornography
• Homelessness, offensive body odor, poor bodily hygiene

Deciding when a patron’s conduct constitutes more than a violation of library policy and rises to the level of a possible criminal violation is often a judgement call for staff, to be made in light of the library’s written policies and procedures addressing users behavior. If in doubt, let the police or local prosecutor make the judgement call as to whether criminal charges are appropriate.