Disruptive teens becoming persistent problem at Bristol library

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 3/8/23

Staff called Bristol police on four occasions in the past month alone; once for a racially-motivated verbal attack that was heard by multiple staff and patrons.

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Disruptive teens becoming persistent problem at Bristol library

Posted

Since the first week of February, the Bristol Police Department has been contacted by staff from Rogers Free Library reporting unruly juveniles on four separate occasions. But one incident, on Monday, Feb. 27, was exceptionally disturbing to all who witnessed it.

According to Charles Calhoun, a patron who is a frequent collaborator with library staff as co-founder of the Bristol BookFest, he was in the library the evening of the 27th to pick up some books.

“While I was checking out at the desk, I overheard three disruptive high school age people in the teen room,” he said. “A librarian quickly asked them to leave. As they stormed out the door, one of them shouted out in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the main floor the ’N word’. There were at least two people of color within hearing distance, one of them a librarian.”

Library Director Dawn Jenkin corroborated Calhoun’s account. “I wish that I could say that it was an isolated incident,” she said. “We have been working with the police and school officials to address the behavior of a group of ‘tweens’ who have targeted the library as a space to test boundaries and express horrific sentiments. This is not limited to matters of race but also sexual orientation, narcotics, etc.”

Bristol Police Major Brian Burke offered the following statement.
“In each of these incidents when the officer(s) arrive on scene, the investigating officer spoke with staff from the library to determine what occurred, and it was determined the discretion of the property owner/complainant (in these instances library staff) what course of action they wish to pursue. Three of the four incidents have resulted in responding officer(s) being able to identify the involved juveniles who were dispersed from the property at the request of library staff. Additionally, two incidents resulted in the responding officer contacting a parent/guardian of the juveniles to inform why police were called to the library."

"Thus far there have been no incidents that have risen to the level of a criminal investigation," the statement continues. "The matters have been reported as juveniles being disruptive and uncooperative with library staff when asked to leave resulting in police being summoned. Public nuisance calls for service received by the Bristol Police to the Rogers Free Library will continue to be investigated case by case and enforcement action will be determined based on the totality of information provided to the responding officer(s) and in cooperation with library staff.”

According to a police report regarding the incident on Feb. 27, the juvenile who shouted the epithet was not identified and has not been identified since. The report indicated the library staff requested a no trespass order be issued if the juvenile is eventually identified. In other instances, Burke said that police have had positive interactions with parents of identified juveniles, and that in all cases where police have been able to interact with juveniles in question, they have been compliant with police requests.

Burke added that officers assigned to the patrol area of the library regularly conduct self-initiated security/walk-through checks of the library.

“The Bristol Police Department continues to work with library staff in keeping the Rogers Free Library a safe publicly available space for all patrons and staff.”

No boundaries, no consequences?
According to Jenkin, this isn’t just in Bristol, it’s happening in Warren, too, where there are four or five young people who have been “trespassed” or permanently banned from library property, any violation of which results in arrest. Jenkin is reluctant to permanently trespass a juvenile, though there may be no other option once they identify the party responsible for the Feb. 27 outburst.

“These are kids who are testing boundaries, looking for an interaction. But at the end of the day I have an employee member and a patron who were scarred by this verbal assault. It’s devastating,” said Jenkin. “It’s harmful to everyone in the community. People are shocked that this is happening in Bristol, and that we have kids who think this is okay. They have no boundaries and no consequences.”

It is believed the juvenile in the Feb. 27 incident is a freshman at the High School and library staff are working with the Resource Officer to identify the student, reach the parents, and get to the root of the problem.

“I don’t want to make all teens sign in because of a very small group of 10-12 who are disruptive, it goes against everything a library stands for: open access and intellectual freedom,” said Jenkin.

“What have we come to?” said Calhoun. “I wish there were something we could all do to let the Library staff and board know that we appreciate and support the challenging and absolutely central work they do in the face of such vicious stupidity.”

“These are kids who aren’t looking for an activity, they are just looking for somewhere to hang out. They’ve adjusted their behavior all day and don’t want to be told what to do,” said Jenkin. “But we can’t erase what was said. Most of us never have to worry about going to work, or going to a library, and getting verbally abused like that.

“That student needs to understand how horrible this behavior really is.”

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