Over the past few months the amount of alarm calls at the Essex County Library has increased to nearly one or two calls per night. With each call no key holder will respond. I have obtained contact information for the day shift to make contact with and to work with the staff of the library to resolve the problem. Also, we have noticed citizens utilizing the parking lot all hours of the night using the broad band service that is enabled at the library. This in itself could attract criminals either to make entry into the library, witch we found to be very easy even when locked and or to prey on unsuspecting and inattentive victims utilizing the internet access in the parking lot.
During the outlining of the departments new strategic plan, it was discussed that day shift personnel would meet with business owners and citizens to address and help facilitate the corrective measures needed to overcome problems identified by the night shift.
The contact information is a Bess Haile @ (804)443-4813.
Once this has been accomplished it would be helpful for those of us on night shift to know what steps have been taken and what efforts we can now employ to maintain a co-operative effort between the library and the department.
We met with Ms. Haile concerning the alarms. She is aware they have a problem and partly it is due to a defective front door. If one pulls hard enough on it it will open allowing access to the interior part of the library. The door company is suggesting a new door at the cost of $7,500 which they do not have in their budget. They will be posting additional red signs to indicate the library is closed. In regards to the internet service it is cut off at 9:00 PM and they do not have a problem with people using it. They feel it is a service to the community. No one should be there after 9:00 pm for internet access.
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