Porn, Sex Crimes At Libraries

Nov. 29 - KGO (KGO) -- You expect a public library to be a safe, clean place for everyone -- children included. But that's not what the I-Team caught on tape during a survey of libraries around the Bay Area.

Over the course of three weeks, we took our cameras to the Bay Area's main libraries. If you haven't been to a public library in a while, you might be surprised by what we found.

One word of caution -- some of what the I-Team captured on tape is graphic.

It's opening time at the San Francisco main library. The crowd swarms in. Some unpack their bags and settle in for a long day. They aren't there for the books or computers. The library gives them a chance to get off the streets.

The I-Team found people tucked away in corners and asleep out in the open. One man stripped to his underwear and changed clothes, in full view, between the stacks of books.

Luis Herrera, San Francisco librarian: "It's not acceptable in the library."

City librarian Luis Herrera says all this activity is against the rules.

Luis Herrera, San Francisco librarian: "What should have happened here is our staff, anybody that notices that, should immediately bring it to our attention, so we can call security and it's irresponsible not to respond to a situation like this."

During our surveillance, we saw no guards patrolling the floors. They remained at the front entrance.

After we filed a public records request for the library's incident reports, Herrera brought in a sergeant from the S.F.P.D. to reorganize his security force.

It's a frustrating situation for the staff.

According to a library survey completed in September, among the most common responses:

"Unpleasant behaviors drive away well behaved patrons."

"I feel my safety and health are at risk on a daily basis."

It's not just the staff who feel threatened.

Mother: "We don't go to that library anymore."

This woman's 11-year-old daughter got punched at the library in January by a mentally-disturbed woman. She's not showing her face or using her name to protect her daughter. They live and work in the neighborhood.

Mother: "You don't take your children to the library to get punched, you know? The library's not a safe place. It's more like a hangout place. People drop their kids off because parents are working and there's nobody to look out."

A review of the past year's police logs shows assaults, lewd acts, and drug use. These are problems we also found in San Jose. And the Martin Luther King Library has a problem with pornography. They have no rule against viewing photographs or full-screen sex videos from Internet sites, even with children nearby.

Chief librarian Jane Light says it's a matter of free speech.

Jane Light, San Jose librarian: "If anyone objects, doesn't like that because they're seeing something they don't want to see, they just let us know and the customer will be required to place a screen on their screen that means people can't see it from the side."

But take a look at the privacy screens. They block the view if you're sitting next to the computer, but if you move back just a bit and the picture's clear again.

Doug Smith, Oakland librarian: "It really only offers partial privacy."

ABC7's Dan Noyes: "I've seen the screens and I see how they work and the stuff is visible from behind. You can see everything."

Jane Light, San Jose librarian: "So you can avert your eyes. It's really & we have a great children's room. I don't know if you've seen our children's room."

Yes, the library does have a room set aside for kids, but they aren't required to go there. They can wander to any floor, even where we spotted a man viewing child porn on a library computer right out in the open.

San Jose's police blotter over the past year lists several arrests for child porn at the library, at least ten cases of child molestation or other sex crimes involving kids and several cases of men viewing porn and performing a lewd act, right at the terminal.

Guards caught this man on surveillance camera.

Sgt. John Laws, San Jose library police: "It showed him sitting at the computer terminal and from our vantage point it appeared to show movement that was consistent with him masturbating."

He was convicted by a jury in September of a lewd act in public and sentenced to 30 days in the county jail.

Records show the same thing happens in San Francisco quite often. In fact, we stumbled upon a man committing a lewd act on the floor. And we found another man in the library's teen section cruising porn sites while two boys played computer games just across the same table. No one said anything and we watched him for more than an hour. He continued on the sex sites even after spotting our camera.

We taped another man at a crowded table watching graphic, full-screen sex videos. The librarians were just across the aisle.

ABC7's Dan Noyes: "Porn is available on there. Kids can see this as they walk by. Is this a safe place for kids?"

Luis Herrera, San Francisco librarian: "I can't guarantee safety, but I would venture to say that it is a safe place for kids."

Marcia Stacke, Child Quest International: "It stuns me that that is going on in our public libraries today."

Marcia Stacke runs Child Quest International out of this San Jose office. They sponsor child protection programs, help find missing kids and campaign for Internet safety. Stacke says something has to be done.

Marcia Stacke, Child Quest International: "You know, sometimes I wonder if we're just too afraid to be, I don't know, sued in this country. We've got to step out and protect our kids. Enough is enough."

Stacke believes that more libraries should filter out pornographic sites on their computers. Forty percent of the libraries across the country use some level of filters on their computers  but not San Francisco, San Jose or Oakland.

This California state librarian tells us filtering is not a fast and easy answer.

Susan Hildreth, CA state librarian: "Internet filtering is not 100 percent effective at all. They're not able to deal with all the wild and crazy sites that are put up at every minute of the day."

We found a good solution in Oakland -- an attentive staff. This main library fared the best out of the three we surveyed. We spotted fewer cases of inappropriate behavior during our surveillance, and in a search of police records.

Doug Smith, Oakland librarian: "We will approach people and intervene when necessary. We really try and establish an atmosphere of safety here."

If you're concerned about these issues, the experts say you should stick to the smaller branch libraries, where the staff can keep a better handle on what's happening in their building.

And don't leave your kids alone at the library if they aren't old enough to handle a difficult situation.

Have a tip on this or another investigation? E-mail the ABC7 I-Team or call 1-888-40-I-TEAM.

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