Saturday, August 15, 2015

Public Libraries: More stress than safety in this workplace.

Every few years "scholars" release a survey ranking on-the-job stress for different professions, often claiming that working in a library is blissfully stress-free. Public Library workers, especially in the US, groan at this misrepresentation. Here's just one reason why.

WCVB5 ABC Boston's News Leader

Man accused of stashing gun on shelf at public library: Worcester man faces gun charges after incident.
Published 3:02 PM EDT Aug 14, 2015

Photo credit: Wikicommons

WORCESTER, Mass. — A Worcester man faces gun charges after police say he stashed a handgun inside a public library on Friday.

An off-duty Boston police officer said he followed a man into the Worcester Public Library about 11:15 a.m. after seeing a handgun in his waistband.

The officer contacted Worcester police.

When police officers located the man inside the library, he was sitting at a computer without the gun.

Officers reviewed library surveillance footage and saw the man, later identified as Luis Bermudez, 24, putting the gun on a shelf in one of the library aisles.

Bermudez, who does not have a license to carry a handgun, was arrested. Bermudez was charged with disorderly conduct and possession of a firearm/ammunition without an FID card.

The gun was recovered by officers.

1 comment:

Harry Roger Williams III said...

Two days later I posted on Facebook, where I had also posted the article above:
"In the interest of full disclosure, a follow-up article revealed it was "only" a pellet gun stashed in the stacks..."
http://www.telegram.com/article/20150817/NEWS/150819320
telegram.com WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Police: Upon review, man had pellet gun at Worcester library
By Gary V. Murray
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Aug. 17, 2015 at 2:41 PM
Updated Aug 17, 2015 at 2:49 PM
WORCESTER - Police dropped a firearm charge against a Worcester man after determining that the gun the suspect allegedly stashed on a bookshelf at the public library at Salem Square Friday was actually a pellet gun.
Luis Bermudez, 24, of 17 Chandler St., Apt. 3, was arrested Friday after an off-duty Boston police officer said he saw Mr. Bermudez at Main and Chatham streets with a handgun in his waistband, and followed him to the Worcester Public Library. Worcester police were notified and officers found the suspect at a computer in the library.
After reviewing surveillance footage, officers said they discovered that Mr. Bermudez had placed what was believed to have been a firearm on a bookshelf in one of the library aisles. Police recovered the suspected firearm and charged Mr. Bermudez with carrying a firearm without a license, after determining he did not have a firearm identification card or a license to carry. Mr. Bermudez was also charged with disorderly conduct.
In a statement of facts filed in Central District Court by police prior to Mr. Bermudez' arraignment Monday, police said the gun that was recovered turned out to be a pellet gun. Mr. Bermudez was arraigned on the disorderly conduct charge and was released on personal recognizance by Judge Paul L. McGill, who continued his case to Oct. 2.