Security Officers Overstep in Maryland Library Incident

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2006abc/february2006a/betheda.cfm

$node.absurl

$node.contribution("Title")

$node.absurl

Posted February 17, 2006.

Security Officers Overstep in Maryland Library Incident

Two county security officers, who wore hats identifying them as Homeland Security guards, have been reassigned after they intervened in a patron’s internet session at the Little Falls branch of the Montgomery County Public Library in Bethesda, Maryland. While on routine patrol at the library February 9, a veteran security guard and an officer trainee noticed a man viewing what they believed to be pornography on a library computer and asked him to step outside to discuss the matter, the Washington Post reported February 17. They then announced to patrons using the computers that looking at porn violated the county’s sexual harassment policy.

At that point, library staffers intervened and called the county police department. “An officer did respond, and after discussion, it was determined that the actions of the security guards were not appropriate,” police spokeswoman Lucille Bauer told reporters. The library patron was allowed to return to his internet session.

Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Bruce F. Romer issued a statement February 17 that called the incident “unfortunate” and “regrettable.” He said the county has taken the two officers off patrol and will retrain them “so that they fully understand library policy and its consistency with residents’ First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution.”

MCPL Collection Management Chief Kay Ecelbarger told American Libraries that the incident was “atypical,” and that the library would be participating in retraining the security guards in “library intellectual freedom issues.” She added that while the media had identified the guards as Homeland Security officers, they really are the same county employees who have always been charged with public building security, although “they’ve had a broader mandate in recent years.”

Posted February 17, 2006.