incidents reported

Yep..its summer at the library....

Several months ago, a man told me that he had lost his iPhone in the library. He could not, however, give a description or a color and was very vague about when he might have lost it. I told him I did not have an iPhone in Lost & Found, but he could leave his name and number and if it was turned in, I would phone him. He declined to give me any information. This morning, a man came in that I believe was the same man as before. This time he told me that he lost an iPhone, iPod, gold bracelet, gold ring and an iPad. I told him that I had none of those items in Lost & Found. Again, he was very vague and could not tell me when he thought he may have left this bounty of items here or a description of the items. I told him that he could call the police and make a report or leave his name and number with me. He declined to do either of those things. I believe this man is clearly "shopping" in the branch in the hopes that our Lost & Found will have some/all of the items and that we would simply hand them over



At approximately 12:55pm, Sandy pulled me aside to tell me about an issue a patron had just reported to her. The patron, was working on PC#19 when he noticed that the man seated next to him on PC#20 was "looking at young girls" on the computer and moving his hand under the table in a way that suggested he was engaging in masturbation.

I approached the patron in question at #20, noticing that he was on YouTube but was now quickly shutting down his browser upon my appearance. One of his hands was below the desk but it was not clear if he was actually masturbating at that point. I told the patron that I had received reports that he was engaging in inappropriate activity at the computer. Appearing flustered and with a shaky voice, he denied the claim, saying he was just "doing Internet stuff." I then informed him that engaging in such activities would result in him being asked to leave the library. He acknowledged my comment but then quickly exited his computer session and left the building on the parking lot side before we could speak with him any further.


At about 11:45 Circulation Staffers observed an adult male patron at PC 24 filming the woman on PC 23 next to him. They saw him casually posture his phone against his face and then move the phone down her body. When the woman walked to the APM he turned the phone so he could film her moving.

At this point M. reported to me what she had seen. We quickly retrieved the PZ he used to log on to the computer, but were unable to get the woman's information since she had already logged off SAM. I called 911 to report the man's behavior and an Officer was dispatched to the branch.

M. approached the woman to let her know what she witnessed and got her name and phone number. While I was talking to the Officer outside Circulation Supervisor She reported that the man had just gotten into his car. P. was not able to note his complete tag number because the plate was dirty and a frame covered some of the plate. She did say that it appeared to be a newer silver VW. M. was able to positively identify the man using the name he logged on to SAM compared to his MVA information that Officer Teare showed her.

Officer Teare said that he would also speak to the patron, but that it was not illegal to film anyone unless it was under a door, etc. He agreed with staff that the patron's actions were unsettling and he thanked us for calling him.