ON MARCH 17 Ms. Josie Parker, Director of the Ann Arbor District Library, spoke before Ann Arbor City Council and confessed that “over the past 36 months” there have been “five heroin overdoses” at the main branch of the public library. The possession of heroin, a Class A drug, is a felony. In a follow-up interview published by The Ann Arbor News, Parker told the reporter that prior to the library’s heroin problem, “we had a cocaine problem here where the library was being used as a cocaine drop.” When asked how often needles and/or drug paraphernalia are found in the main branch on Fifth Avenue, Parker replied, “Checking the bathroom wastebaskets is routine here, and it’s most days that we find paraphernalia or alcohol bottles. Most days it’s one or the other or both.”
The Director of the Library went to speak before City Council against a proposal for a 1/7th to 1/3 acre public park in the Library Lot, a public-owned parcel next to the main branch of the AADL. In her comments, Parker suggested that a public space could worsen her library’s problem with heroin overdoses.
While Parker’s revelations have been lauded by members of the public who are sympathetic to the problem of the downtown library being used as a day shelter for the city’s homeless population, sources tell The Ann Arbor Independent that the Director’s appearance before the City Council was “handled poorly” and has resulted in “a lot of bad publicity” for the AADL.
Her public comments about what Josie Parker termed “bad behavior” on the part of patrons was lumped together with the ongoing commission of misdemeanors and felonies in the downtown library. Parker spoke openly about her library patrons’ “Angry behavior. Entitled behavior. Selfish behavior. Total disregard for the feelings of others, whether they’re staff or anyone who has to listen to someone act as though this library is private to them.”
While such behavior is unpleasant, selfishness is not a crime punishable by a $500,000 fine and 30 years in prison, as is possession of large amounts of heroin.
The downtown library hosts 600,000 visits per year, and hosts numerous events for teens and younger children.
The Clery Act which requires colleges and universities to report crime on their campuses was passed in 1986 when undergraduate Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered by a fellow college student. EMU was fined $350,000 in 2008 for a Clery Act violation and in 2011 the University of Michigan was selected at random for an evaluation of its Clery Act reporting accuracy. Department of Education officials found reporting discrepancies in crime reporting data and as a result the University of Michigan Police Department was required to update its information and alert faculty, staff and students to the updated information.
There is no Clery Act law which requires public libraries to alert patrons to crimes committed in their facilities. As a result, AADL library patrons rely on the media to report serious crimes committed on library property.
Media would be alerted to the commission of serious crimes by either staff reports to the AADL Board of Trustees or police reports. However, no AADL Board meeting minutes examined contained any mention of the library’s problem with drug crime or mentioned any of the overdoses which have allegedly occurred on library property since 2011.
A source within the AADL said that the Library’s Board of Trustees was not apprised of the AADL’s ongoing problem with drug crimes.
The Ann Arbor Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act request for crime incident reports for each of the heroin overdoses Josie Parker referred to in her public comments. The newspaper also requested documents sent to library trustees.