The library will prominently display signage to inform library users of its theft and destruction of library materials policies. Library signage will include reference to California Penal Code, Sections 490.5 and 594.

 

 

Illegal activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

·        Theft of library materials (490.5 California Penal Code).

·        Destruction of library materials (594 California Penal Code).

·        Sex crimes (indecent exposure, solicitations).

·        Computer crimes (502 California Penal Code, including illegal pornography, threatening email, identity theft, other types of theft).

·        Illegal gambling (330 California Penal Code).

·        Child abuse or neglect

·        Use or sale of drugs or alcohol.

·        Assault such as violent or abusive behavior toward library staff or library patrons.

 

 

As part of their job duties, library staff members help maintain library order and building security. Library staff members are not required to engage in any security related activity that, in their judgment, could cause injury or harm to themselves or others. For probable cause¹, such as an exit gate alarm being triggered, library staff are authorized to:

 

·        Witness and report on criminal activity.

·        Stop and detain persons suspected of an illegal activity.

·        Use reasonable amount of non-deadly force to stop and detain persons.

·        Examine items in plain view to determine ownership.

·        Request the surrender of items.

·        Make a limited search in order to recover items (packages, shopping bags, hand bags, other property in the immediate possession). 

·        Request but not require proof of an individual's identity.

·        Arrest a person suspected of an illegal activity (Arrest by a private person 490.5 California Penal Code).

 

1 Probable cause: Facts that would lead a reasonable and prudent person to believe that criminal activity has occurred.

 

 

 

The Library Director may consult with librarians and/or other campus officials regarding the application of California Penal Code Section 490.5(a), reprinted below. Unless otherwise directed in writing by college administration, a minimum of fair market value reimbursement, plus $50 penalty, per item loss or defacement, will be assessed to each person convicted of a library crime.

 

Theft of library materials is a crime punishable by "a mandatory fee of not less than $50 ... and may also be punished by imprisonment in the county jail, not exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment." (California Penal Code, Section 490.5 (a)) and will be required to pay the Library damages of "not less than $50" plus the "fair market value of the book or other library material." (California Penal Code, section 490.5(c)).  

 

Any person who shall steal or unlawfully take or detain, or willfully or maliciously or wantonly write upon, cut, tear, deface, disfigure, soil, obliterate, break or destroy, or who shall sell or buy or receive, knowing the same to have been stolen, any book, document, newspaper, periodical, map, chart, picture, portrait, engraving, statue, coin, medal, apparatus, specimen, or other work of literature or object of art or curiosity deposited in a public library, gallery, museum, collection, fair or exhibition, or in any department or office of State or local government, or in a library, gallery, museum, collection, or exhibition, belonging to any incorporated college or university, or any incorporated institution devoted to educational, scientific, literary, artistic, historical or charitable purposes, shall, if the value of the property stolen, detained, sold, bought or received knowing same to have been stolen, or if the damage done by writing upon, cutting, tearing, defacing, disfiguring, soiling, obliterating, breaking or destroying any such property, shall not exceed fifty dollars ($50.00), be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If the value of the property stolen, detained, sold or received knowing same to have been stolen, or the amount of damage done in any of the ways or manners herein above set out, shall exceed the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00), the person committing same shall be punished as a Class H felon. (California Penal Code, Section 594????? CA legislative site down 11-3-04).