Library Safety & Security: A Comprehensive Hybrid
San Jose Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
San Jose Public Library (SJPL) invested in the development of a hybrid security operation consisting of a team of in-house Senior Security Officers, supplemented with contract security to support all 24 branch locations city-wide in incident reporting and response. Library Senior Security Officers carry out critical roles of de-escalation, incident reporting, coordination with emergency personnel (Fire, EMT, Police, etc.), resource referral to county services for those experiencing homelessness or mental health crisis, and rendering First Aid/ CPR. Library Senior Security Officers are also instrumental in system-wide safety & security training for staff. To ensure quality assurance and consistent incident response, reporting, and escalation, SJPL has instituted an extensive training/onboarding program for in-house Security Officers, mandatory training and on-boarding protocols for contract security personnel, and system-wide staff training and empowerment in incident response.
Challenge/Opportunity
Navigating safety and resumption of services post-pandemic posed many challenges for a large library system. Many community struggles, exacerbated by the pandemic, are reflected and magnified at the library. Within the past 3 years, the system experienced over 2,801 high-severity incidents including medical emergencies, drug/alcohol intoxication, assault, sexual harassment, and weapons brandishing. In 2022, gang related violence resulted in a shooting inside a library branch. As the city continue to struggle with police staffing capacity, the library security team fill in the gaps in incident response and reporting, de-escalating highly volatile and dangerous situations, and balancing staff and patron safety. Our officers are not armed with weapons. Yet, they have managed ensure equal access to the library through security coverage and d, safety and security trainings for staff, and function as the bridge between staff/patrons, police, and the community.
Key Elements of Innovation
Building Officer Competencies
- Verbal Judo / Verbal De-Escalation Certification
- Certification in CPR/ First Aide, Active Shooter, and CA POST PC 832 Training
- Certification in Narcan Administration
- Mandatory block training
- Consistent System-Wide Response
- Implemented systemwide staff training at all branch locations.
- Implemented comprehensive in-house security onboarding training program, standard operating procedures, peer-led trainings, and quality assurance through daily progress reports.
- Implemented mandatory contractor (security) training at designated locations prior to posting guard. Requirement embedded into services contract.
- Managed redundancy by establishing flex pool guards to back-fill for absences.
Building A Complementary Operation - Scaled staffing compliment to include 10 SJPL Security positions, 8 contract security placements, 30 flex guards.
- Augmented SJPL security capacity with contract security using incident tracker data to inform placement
Achieved Outcomes
- Increased response time to critical incidents, provided additional capacity. Average response time is less than 20 minutes.
- Delivered over 130 Trainings to support system-wide security & safety efforts.
- Implemented On-Duty Officer protocol to streamline system-wide call intake and expedite response and intervention.
- Implemented a stack-rank system to triage security response and categorize incidents.
- Established communication pathways with San Jose Police Department, Fire/EMT, University Police, Community Based Organizations, and schools.
- Assignment with San Jose Police Department Divisions to expedite response and issue resolution. Each SJPL Security Officer has an SJPD Captain counterpart.
