Librarians and Order

The culture of lawlessness that has been created in San Francisco now has librarians begging for more security and public transport asking civilians to intervene in dangerous situations.

More than half of San Francisco’s public libraries do not have on-site security, which librarians are now trying to change in negotiations with the city. Over the last five years, the library system has been forced to hire 11 security guards. The librarians are even in dispute with their own agency, which asserts that many branches haven’t had security problems, while the librarians claim they are underreported, the natural outcome of knowing prosecutors have little interest in or capability to hold criminals to account.

As it turns out, librarians are not equipped to handle rabble-rousers and hooligans. But maybe you are.

That is the thought process of San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system. BART has finally stepped up its police presence, recording 726 felony arrests last year (almost two per day) and confiscating 49 illegal guns, the most since 2003. Still, it hasn’t been enough, leading BART to promote “bystander intervention cards” that encourage civilians to “stand with” women being harassed on BART trains.

Sure, you may be asked to put yourself in harm’s way because San Francisco has lost control of crime, but at least you probably won’t be arrested and charged with murder for it. After all, it’s not New York City.

Ideally, civilians and librarians should not be tasked with providing security. That should be the job of police with the backing of prosecutors, but that has been too hard of a pill for San Francisco to swallow over the last few years. Maybe a few more “bystander intervention cards” can help keep librarians safe while the powers that be debate it out for a few more years.