Power Boost

Drivers have cursed Sgt. Ricardo A. Wright when he has asked them not to park illegally in spaces for the disabled. One patron told Wright, a library security officer, “Who are you to tell me what to do? Get a cop and I’ll listen to you.”

Wright is betting that such troublesome patrons will be more cooperative if library security officers have the power to arrest offenders and take them to nearby police stations.

“It will make some people who don’t respect us, respect us a little more,” he said. “We’re very dependent [on police]. If we have that authority, that changes things.”

Currently, library security officers may detain people until police arrive, which often takes an hour or more, library officers say. But last month, the Assembly approved a bill supported by the Los Angeles Public Library that gives library officers limited law enforcement status, including the power to make arrests on library property and perhaps most important--to transport suspects to police stations.

Security supervisors also would be able to look up suspects’ criminal records in law enforcement databases and officers could arrest suspects with outstanding warrants. The bill, SB 1578, has been approved by the Assembly and is awaiting Gov. Gray Davis’ signature. It would take effect Jan. 1.

“The main thing is to ensure people simply going to the library for access to computers, to do research, should be allowed the sanctity of a peaceful experience,” said state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), the bill’s author.

From July 1998 to June 1999, the city’s 68 libraries reported 717 criminal incidents, said Los Angeles Public Library spokesman Peter V. Persic. The majority of cases involved disorderly conduct, vandalism and disturbing the peace, he said.

A study three years ago by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training determined that city library officers needed limited law enforcement status to deal with such minor crimes.

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Arrest powers would allow library officers to quickly remove troublemakers, said Los Angeles Public Library Sgt. Frank Martinez. Officers now guard detainees in security offices or other areas of the library, while waiting for police to arrive, and the suspects sometimes shout obscenities, he said.

“It’s an uncomfortable situation for patrons,” Martinez said. “Even if you don’t see [detainees], you hear them.”

It has become increasingly difficult to keep libraries quiet and serene, officials said, with rambunctious teens coming in after school and patrons taking bar code stickers off books to steal them.

Less frequently, car thefts and break-ins occur in library parking lots and conflicts erupt between patrons over use of the computers, said Renee Ardon, senior librarian at the Canoga Park Library.

“I have seen adults elbow kids out of their way,” Ardon said.

But a disruption caused by an angry or disturbed person is the more common problem, officials said. At the Canoga Park branch, police recently used a trespassing order to forbid a patron from returning, Ardon said. The man had regularly refused to share tables with others and often told immigrant patrons to go back where they came from, she said.

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Library staffs rely on in-house security rather than police when problems first arise, said Roy Stone, senior librarian at the Fairfax Library and president of the Librarians’ Guild, which represents more than 300 city librarians. The guild supports the state bill.

“Almost always our security comes before the police,” Stone said of nonemergency situations. “We tell people, ‘Call security first.’ ”

As library staffs have been reduced because of belt-tightening, lawbreakers have been emboldened, Stone said. Fewer staffers also means longer lines for book checkouts and other services, which can inflame tempers, he said.

Fifty-one library officers provide around-the-clock security for 68 city libraries, two bookmobiles and the library warehouse in Boyle Heights, Martinez said. Ten officers with geographical beats work in marked patrol cars and respond to calls at city libraries throughout Los Angeles, he said.

Officers wear police belts equipped with batons, handcuffs and pepper spray. The bill would not provide guns to the officers, who receive 40 hours of training at Rio Hondo Police Academy in Whittier.

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The most important part of their jobs is verbally de-escalating tense situations, Martinez said.

“We’re all black belts in verbal judo and tongue fu,” he joked.

The job has its risks. In the past six months, at least four library officers have been injured by offenders, Martinez said. One was bitten on the leg by a detainee and others were punched and kicked.

Officers also would be allowed to thoroughly search suspects for concealed weapons, while they now are limited to patting them down, said Los Angeles Public Library security chief Ernest R. Love. Officers could also arrest detainees who refuse to provide valid identification, he said.

Although the bill has wide support, a few librarians worry that heavy-handed security officers might abuse additional power, Stone said. Ardon wondered if the extra duties would tie up officers in other ways. “Do they get bogged down at the police station? What’s the whole picture?”

Love said he did not expect extra delays: “We will be no more bogged down than when we have [to detain] a suspect for one or 1 1/2 hours.”

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The extra authority will not affect the officers’ pay because their status will remain the same, Love said. Library officers are members of the Service Employees International Union and earn from $28,000 to $36,000 a year. Library officials said they did not have an estimate for bill-related expenses, such as computer training or modifying security vehicles to transport suspects.