City seeking change in library surveillance law

Aug. 13, 2007 -- The inability of Milwaukee Public Library officials to voluntarily provide surveillance tapes to police after an attempted child abduction is prompting city officials to ask for a change in state law governing library records.

The law generally prohibits disclosure of library records without a court order, and a December attorney general's opinion said that surveillance tapes are library records.

The city wants to be able to provide police with relevant tapes when they are investigating crimes or security incidents that occur at libraries.

"Even if the library had someone who was stealing materials they couldn't provide us with the videotape without us getting a court order, and they're the victims of the offense" Deputy Police Inspector Anna Ruzinski said.

The city, however, is opposing a bill pending in the state legislature that would require a library to produce all library surveillance records to any law enforcement official investigating a crime that occurred a the library.

The proposed bill is too broad, City Librarian Paula Kiely told the Common Council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee.

"We want to work with law enforcement to make sure those requests we are receiving are appropriate," she said.

Ruzinski said the Police Department would support opposing the current bill because the department and the library have worked together to come up with a workable alternative.

Library officials in the past believed they could provide relevant surveillance tapes to police if an incident occurred at a library. The December attorney general's opinion changed that.

Ruzinski said the opinion became an issue during the investigation into the attempted child abduction.

"Unfortunately, we were not able to get the video surveillance to actively investigate that until we got a court order," she said. "When you've got the abduction of a child, the urgency in getting that investigated right away is extremely important and even a few hours delay presents a problem."

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