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Belgrade board discusses recent skate-park assault; library details incident procedures and de-escalation training
Summary
After a board member raised a recent assault at the nearby skate park, the Belgrade Library director described staff de-escalation training, an incident-report process, police notification procedures and collaboration with parks and other agencies to better engage teens.
Belgrade — A board member at Monday’s Belgrade Library Advisory Board meeting raised concerns about a recent assault near the city skate park and asked whether that violence had carried over into library spaces and what the library is doing in response.
The chair described “the act of violence that occurred in the park here last week where there was an assault on another teenager by 4 individuals.” The director, Elena, told the board the library has an incident-report and code-of-conduct process in place, that staff receive de-escalation training and that police are called when patrons refuse to leave after warnings.
Elena said staff present patrons with the library’s code of conduct and give a warning if rules are broken; on a second occurrence staff ask the patron to leave for the day and, if behavior persists, the library escalates to a police response and files an incident report for the safety committee. She said the library has worked closely with the police department and will continue training and coordination with parks and the senior center to offer programs intended to engage teenagers.
The board discussed program options to engage teens — from makerspace activities to potential skateboard-repair or bike tune-up days — as part of a prevention and engagement strategy. Elena also mentioned suicide-prevention talks and monthly Stop the Bleed trainings as examples of community-focused programming that have drawn teen participation.
Why it matters: Board members framed the issue as both a public-safety and a youth-engagement concern; the library’s approach combines policy enforcement, staff training and partnerships with public safety and parks to reduce risky behavior and offer alternatives for teens.
Next steps: The director said the library will continue to document incidents, conduct further de-escalation training this year and pursue collaborative programming with parks and schools to attract teens to constructive activities.
