library cops overdue books

library cops overdue books

library cops overdue books - Library calls cops for overdue books, A Massachusetts library sent police to a 5-year-old girl’s home to get back her overdue books. The books had apparently been overdue for several months, but the library claims it was a $100 audio book that the girl’s father checked out that warranted the police visit.

Submitted by Michael Allen on Jan 3, 2012
In Charlton, MA, Sgt. Dan Dowd recently stopped by the home of Shannon Benoit to let her know that her 5-year-old daughter Hailey had two books several months overdue which needed to be returned or paid for (video below).

“I thought it was way overboard,” says Benoit. “I closed my door, I looked at my daughter and she started crying.”

Hailey asked her mom if the police were going to arrest her. Hailey says, “I was scared.”

They found and returned the books, but Hailey’s mom argues that sending a cop to their house was like pounding a ten penny nail with a sledge hammer.

“Nobody wanted to, on this end to get involved in it,” says Sgt. Dowd. “But the library contacted us, and the chief delegated, and apparently I was one of the low men on the totem pole.”

Oddly, the state law does allow for a misdemeanor to be charged on overdue library books, so it could have been worse.

his morning, I’ve been watching a small PR fiasco unfold. According to CBS Boston, Charlton Public Library sent a police officer to collect overdue books from a 5-year-old. The story also made the Drudge Report and the UK’s Daily Mail – gotta love that international media attention!

OK – there’s obviously a LOT more to the story that was left out. For example, there’s no mention in the article of the reporter actually talking to library staff, who could have filled in the details (they DID talk to the library – it’s mentioned in the video version of the story).

Via Facebook, the library filled in some pertinent details (i.e., what actually happened) after getting some nasty Facebook comments: