PDA

View Full Version : Yes kiddies, there is a book police



kwame k
03-12-2010, 05:06 PM
Return Library Books or Else: Borrowers Arrested for Failing to Return Overdue Books, DVDs

Handcuffed and in the back of a police cruiser, Aaron Henson wracked his brain trying to figure out how a simple speeding violation had led to his arrest.


Texas man is arrested for failing to pay a $27 late fee.
The answer from the Colorado State Patrol stunned him. Henson never returned the DVD he'd checked out of the Littleton library, and there was a warrant out for his arrest.

"I was just shocked," he said. "I was like 'What? I've got a what now?'"

After spending eight hours in a county jail, during which time he was fingerprinted, photographed and booked, Henson's father bailed him out. He had tried calling his mother for help, but she didn't seem to believe him, telling Henson there was no "book police."

But indeed there is. Towns across the county, frustrated with trying to replace wayward materials on a shoestring budget, have turned to issuing citations, court appearances, even reporting the offending library patron to their credit bureaus.

City spokeswoman Kelli Narde said Littleton lost $7,800 in lost library materials in 2009, including Henson's DVD. They issued 81 summonses for failure to return library materials, she said. "And 80 of them were resolved without a problem."

The warrant Henson was brought in on in January was actually for failure to appear. The town claimed it sent numerous bills, notices, a summons and a notice of a court date, but they apparently were all sent to a previous address and Henson saw none of them.

"I understand the city was following its procedure ... but when somebody's not informed of a court date and then they're getting arrested on the side of the road, getting embarrassed, having fear and all that, it just doesn't sit well with me," Henson said.

Narde said they don't buy that Henson never knew they were looking for the DVD, noting that they left two cell phone messages and that their notices didn't get returned by the postal service meaning someone had to have picked them up at his old address.


The offending DVD? "House of the Flying Daggers," a 2004 Chinese film valued at around $31.45 by the Littleton-Bemis Public Library -- just a little higher than the city's $30 threshold for getting the legal system involved. Henson checked it out in 2004, left it with a friend to watch and forgot about it.

It never entered his mind again until he was pulled over on Interstate 70 during a snowstorm. After the state troopers drove him away, Henson's car was towed and impounded, a note left on it to indicate the driver had been arrested.

"I made the comment, 'This has got to be one of the stupidest arrests you've ever made,'" Henson said.

Narde said the city council met Tuesday and agreed to research a possible revision to the policy on issuing arrest warrants in similar cases.

"In the meantime the court and the police department have been directed not to issue any summons for failure to return library materials," she said.

The city has also refunded the $460 the arrest cost the Hensons and promised to wipe the incident off Henson's record, according to ABC's Denver affiliate KMGH.

The rest here (http://abcnews.go.com/WN/arrested-cuffed-overdue-library-books/story?id=10062565&page=2)

kwame k
03-12-2010, 05:10 PM
While I agree that Libraries need to be able to collect overdue books and now that they lend DVD's they need a way to insure that they are returned but.........

Take a credit card number on the application or get their SS# and send it to a collection agency but arresting someone for a $31.00 fucking DVD..... no fucking way.

Wonder if this will make Gar shake in his boots :)

jhale667
03-12-2010, 05:40 PM
Wonder if this will make Gar shake in his boots :)


:lmao:

chefcraig
03-12-2010, 05:55 PM
This doesn't make any sense for several reasons. Did the guy not revisit the library after borrowing the DVD? If he did, the librarian attending him had the responsibility of bringing his late fee to his attention. I know, some people hate to be confrontational, but too bad, that is part of your job. Furthermore, it is the librarian's responsibility to ask a customer every so often if their contact info is up to date. Apparently, this was not followed up either.

So that's two things that were done incorrectly. But the thing is, the borrower has responsibility here, as well. What is this "I forgot about it" bullshit? He checked it out, lent it to a friend and then let it slip his mind? Fuck the guy. He deserves to be arrested for walking around stupid and irresponsible. Part of the deal with a lending library is if you check it out, you return it. Otherwise, the operation pretty much falls apart. Essentially, the guy didn't borrow the DVD, he stole it. You can walk out of K Mart with a DVD down your pants, but if you get caught, you get arrested and go to jail. So why should arresting this nitwit be any different?

Kristy
03-12-2010, 06:06 PM
Not Littleton Bemis Public Library...! I live about 8 minutes from there on foot. What a shit library, too. For one, they are too cheap to shell out for Wi-Fi internet, they've spent more wasted tax payer money on remodeling the place complete with a tofu/coffee-like cafe, the most god-awful ugly entrance way you'll ever seen and a lack of buying new books, computers instead opting for librarian pay raises. Oh, and I've seen their CD/DVD section - there's nothing there! Perhaps they have had a lot of theft and people never return them but for fuck's sake, to have the police arrest you for being overdue!? Usually they send you threatening letters and proclaim to wreck your credit status.

"The warrant Henson was brought in on in January was actually for failure to appear. The town claimed it sent numerous bills, notices, a summons and a notice of a court date, but they apparently were all sent to a previous address and Henson saw none of them. I understand the city was following its procedure ... but when somebody's not informed of a court date and then they're getting arrested on the side of the road, getting embarrassed, having fear and all that, it just doesn't sit well with me," Henson said."

Welcome to the New World Order, indeed.

Kristy
03-12-2010, 06:06 PM
Weird double post

LoungeMachine
03-12-2010, 06:36 PM
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_zePQavforA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_zePQavforA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Anonymous
03-12-2010, 06:47 PM
Wonder if this will make Gar shake in his boots :)

It won't. Gayr only goes to the library to use the computers.

He gets all his education from Google, why would he read a book?

Cheers! :bottle:

Blackflag
03-12-2010, 11:07 PM
I don't understand when libraries started becoming video stores, anyways. Fuck that shit.

sadaist
03-13-2010, 07:35 AM
Why are handcuffs mandatory? Shouldn't this be left up to the arresting officer whether or not handcuffs are appropriate? It's silly and treats minor offenses the same as violent people. If you're being arrested on a very minor item, don't have a history of run in's with the law, and fully cooperating, what the fuck do they need to handcuff you for?