Security not new at SM library
DOWNTOWN — City officials are making sure that the new $57.7 million library is adequately protected, so they’re hiring additional security guards to keep the peace.
Two full-time security guards will be assigned to the library, set to open in December. They’ll be roaming the 104,000-square-foot facility, constantly surveying the grassy outdoor plaza with a cafe, fountains and a terrace, as well as keeping an eye on hundreds of computers, desks and chairs sprawled throughout the building for lounge and study.
They’ll also be keeping an eye on who enters the facility, what they are carrying and how they smell.
Security is nothing new to the Santa Monica public library system, where acting librarian Greg Mullen said such positions have been filled for more than 15 years. Starting off as messengers and customer service representatives, the position has evolved to include the enforcement of the library’s rules, which were updated a year ago. That’s due in part to complaints that homeless and other individuals were often disrupting the library experience for others, staff said.
The homeless, for example, used to line their bags, carts and other personal belongings along the library’s entrance, a pile-up that sometimes posed a hazard to pedestrians, users said.
The library also received complaints from users that homeless individuals smelled. Now, as a result of the updated rules, patrons are prohibited from “obstructing aisles or access to library facilities and equipment with personal belongings.” They also are barred if their “bodily hygiene is offensive so as to constitute a nuisance to others.”
Security will have their own station on the first floor near the reference desk, Mullen said. The goal is to have three security personnel on hand at any given time when the library is open.
Security guards — who are city employees and not part of the police department — don’t carry guns and have powers similar to park rangers, Mullen said. Any situations they can’t handle are reported to the Santa Monica Police Department. However, the library’s security staff prides itself on being able to manage its own affairs and only having to call the police after every alternative has been exhausted, they said.
While the updated rules have successfully curbed bad behaviors, there is still an element of security that comes with rule enforcement, library security said.
A security staff member who wished to remain anonymous couldn’t provide an average number of times situations needed to be mediated that involved the new rules, particularly when they pertain to homeless.
“Sometimes there are several incidences that happen back to back; sometimes they are rare,” the security guard said.
However, the guard acknowledged that a lot of the job requires diplomacy. Choosing when to enforce and when to negotiate can be a fine line.
“It’s not the letter of the law, it’s an interpretation of it,” the security guard said. “What’s an offensive odor to you may not be an offensive odor to me. We have a lot of compassion for these people, and I think most people do.”
The security guard said the odor rule is only enforced if it can be shown that it’s an interruption to library service, usually based on complaints.
But the rules apply to everyone. “If a woman tries to enter the library with several shopping bags, I’d ask her to leave them in her car, just like I’d tell a homeless man he can not bring his shopping cart inside,” the security guard said.
Santa Monica resident Steven O’Connor said he uses the library twice a week to check out DVDs for free.
O’Connor said the new rules seem to be effective. “As long as I have easy access to the library and don’t have to navigate my way around bikes and bags, the rules are no problem,” O’Connor said.
A Santa Monica homeless woman, who wouldn’t give her name, said the library is a great resource, although the homeless do not get full access to it.
Because they don’t have a Santa Monica address, they aren’t able to receive a library card. As a result, they can’t check out books. They also can’t use the Internet, which is accessed by a library card.
The woman said the way homeless people in the library are perceived is often misconstrued. While many homeless are scrutinized by security for fear they may try to steal library resources, she said that’s not the case with many who visit the facility.
“They watch us, and the fact is a lot of us are just not like that, out to steal,” the homeless woman said. “We’re there because we like to read, just trying to improve ourselves.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 15, 2005. Read the original PDF.