Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Reutty, Michele
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ765664
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867181169296015360
author Reutty, Michele
author_facet Reutty, Michele
Reutty, Michele
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents What Happened to Me when the Police Came Knocking Reutty, Michele Law Enforcement Public Libraries Police Intellectual Freedom Librarians Privacy Access to Computers Library Services Michele Reutty was director of the Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights for 17 years. Hasbrouck Heights is a mile-square "bedroom community" of New York City that is located in northern New Jersey. In this article, she narrates her experience--one that probably occurs with alarming regularity to professional librarians all over the United States: The police came knocking at her door--without proper documentation--and asking for information about a patron. When the police asked her for some patron information, she followed the letter of the law. But that did not keep her out of trouble. She was asked to sign papers saying she was guilty of many things, ranging from failure to contact the borough attorney first (he had contacted her and had given wrong advice) to purposely delaying the investigation. All of these papers ended with a paragraph that said she would not sue the municipality--ever. And if she did not sign, she was to be suspended for two weeks without pay. Rather than face this blot on her unblemished record, she resigned on October 2. She is now director of the Oakland (New Jersey) Public Library, a library positioned for greatness. For her, the best thing to happen from all of this heartache and trouble is that just about every library in New Jersey now has a policy that details exactly what to do if law enforcement officials come knocking at the door. (Contains 3 endnotes.)
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_EJ765664
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2007
record_format eric
spellingShingle What Happened to Me when the Police Came Knocking
Reutty, Michele
Law Enforcement
Public Libraries
Police
Intellectual Freedom
Librarians
Privacy
Access to Computers
Library Services
What Happened to Me when the Police Came Knocking Reutty, Michele Law Enforcement Public Libraries Police Intellectual Freedom Librarians Privacy Access to Computers Library Services Michele Reutty was director of the Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights for 17 years. Hasbrouck Heights is a mile-square "bedroom community" of New York City that is located in northern New Jersey. In this article, she narrates her experience--one that probably occurs with alarming regularity to professional librarians all over the United States: The police came knocking at her door--without proper documentation--and asking for information about a patron. When the police asked her for some patron information, she followed the letter of the law. But that did not keep her out of trouble. She was asked to sign papers saying she was guilty of many things, ranging from failure to contact the borough attorney first (he had contacted her and had given wrong advice) to purposely delaying the investigation. All of these papers ended with a paragraph that said she would not sue the municipality--ever. And if she did not sign, she was to be suspended for two weeks without pay. Rather than face this blot on her unblemished record, she resigned on October 2. She is now director of the Oakland (New Jersey) Public Library, a library positioned for greatness. For her, the best thing to happen from all of this heartache and trouble is that just about every library in New Jersey now has a policy that details exactly what to do if law enforcement officials come knocking at the door. (Contains 3 endnotes.)
title What Happened to Me when the Police Came Knocking
topic Law Enforcement
Public Libraries
Police
Intellectual Freedom
Librarians
Privacy
Access to Computers
Library Services
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ765664