Camden library considers surveillance after threats, vandalism

CAMDEN – The trustees of Camden Public Library are considering installing security cameras on the building’s grounds after recent acts of vandalism and a threat of more.

A 15-year-old Hope boy was arrested last month after police concluded he was responsible for smashing two stained-glass windows in brick gatehouses that mark the entrance to the Camden Amphitheater, the landscaped area adjacent to the library. Police also believe the boy smashed one of the antique light holders inside the amphitheater and a streetlight near Atlantic Avenue.

The damage was done with blocks of ice left at the amphitheater for an ice-sculpting contest.

The cost of replacing the broken items was estimated at $5,000.

Last week, library officials found two chairs inside the library damaged, and a tear in the fabric of a reading cubicle. Though no one was charged with that damage, library officials are suspicious about teenage users of the facility.

Town officials announced Monday that a 14-year-old Camden boy was banned from the library after allegedly writing threats in the library’s comment book.

“If you leave us alone, we won’t retaliate by breaking windows,” the comment read. If police stop driving by, the comment continued, “we will respect your [expletive] area.”

The boy signed the comment, Police Chief Phil Roberts said.

The boy has been banned from the library grounds for two years, Select Board Chairman Sid Lindsley said at Monday night’s board meeting.

The boy had been reprimanded earlier by a library staff member, Roberts said, for spitting outside the library entrance.

During Monday’s meeting, Lindsley encouraged residents to come forward with their comments on the recent vandalism. The same comment book the boy used was designated for comments about the problems.

Last month, library trustees began developing rules for use of the grounds so it will be easier for police to deal with teens who loiter there. Inappropriate language, smoking and the use of alcohol or drugs may be among the infractions that will result in removal, trustees have said.

Police would issue a warning and then a summons for criminal trespass to those who do not leave the grounds after being asked to do so, Roberts said.

Trustees were reluctant to install security cameras for fear of public backlash, but the recent vandalism may convince residents of the need.

In June, voters will be asked to borrow $350,000 toward restoration work on the library grounds which includes the amphitheater, designed and built by noted landscape architect Fletcher Steele, and Harbor Park, designed and built by the Olmsted Brothers firm, which worked on New York City’s Central Park.

Both landscapes were built in the 1930s, paid for in large part by benefactor Mary Louise Curtis Bok.