[Publib] Abusive/threatening patrons

Wed Jun 7 11:48:32 EDT 2006

Thanks for a great story, Theresa. You handled that situation so well. As
you mention, there are times when an immediate call to 911 is the best
action. We may, however, be faced with a situation in which reaching for
the phone could trigger an unwanted action on the part of a threatening
patron. For that reason we have equiped our staff with pendants worn around
our necks or in our pockets (they look like ink pens). These pendants have
buttons which, when activated, notify a private monitoring company that we
have a serious emergency. They know to immediately call the police. In the
4 or 5 years that we've have these, we've only had to use them once and the
police were here (one through the front of the building and one through the
rear staff entry) within minutes.

David Gunckel
Sierra Vista (AZ) Public Library

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                                                                   Subject 
             06/07/2006 08:33          [Publib] Re: comment from           
             AM                        Bookmobile list on Abusive patrons  
                                       discussion                          

>>> TGemmer at CI.EVERETT.WA.US 6/7/2006 9:55:29 AM >>>
And, sometimes  we can use other resources to quell a potential
disturbance.  Recently I was up in the main part of the library and a man
who reeked of alcohol and looked like he had been in a recent fight or had
a bad face plant fall confronted me and said " I had a bad night and I am
going to have an outburst right here in the library."

I looked him in the eye and said, "Sir, the library frowns on outbursts.
If you have an outburst here, you are likely to have a bad day as well.
But, you are welcome to go out on the balcony there and have an outburst."
He glared at me and I smiled back and he burst out laughing.

We ended up bantering a bit about whether it was really ok for him to go
out on the balcony and outburst and he eventually sat down to read a
newspaper as I went on to continue my errand. I have to say he looked
pretty scary at first, big and bloody and threatening, and if he hadn't
used the word "outburst" my humor bone might not have been tickled enough
to respond that way, but it worked.

If I had run to call the police, it would have been quite a scene ( an
outburst, no doubt) and he would have ended up reading his newspaper in
jail.  And, maybe that would have been a good thing, I don't know.

I recently read "Blink!" and after reading it, I think I see what was
operating in that case, which was that there were unconscious clues that I
picked up on that told me he was not a danger to me, and I could take a
light approach.  By the same token, I believe that author would tell you
that if your first inclination was to run and call 911, that probably would
be the right choice.

PS I highly recommend Blink!  it is very thought-provoking especially if
you are interested in how our brains work.

Theresa Gemmer
Everett Public Library Outreach Librarian
2702 Hoyt Ave.
Everett, WA 98201
425.257.7643 direct
425.257.8006 dept.
tgemmer at ci.everett.wa.us _______________________________________________
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