‘Polite and respectful’

Newell said he doesn’t see the increased need for police at the library as a problem, saying that the children usually respond to staff direction. When police are needed, officers — whom he referred to as “valued community members” — use a soft touch, he said.

“The way that they come in is so polite and respectful,” he said. “It is a gentle escort (out of the library) every time.”

Typically “they need someone to just tell them to be respectful,” said one of the area’s neighborhood officers, Rayvell Gillard, known as “Officer Ray” to youth.

He said Meadowridge staff will call or email him directly if there’s a problem. The fighting that gets reported is typically play fighting, he said, but when it’s real he tries to visit with the youths’ parents. He said he’s not had to cite or arrest any child since he started working the area in September.

Mickells said incidents like the one at Lakeview have been rare in his more than six years with the system, but he acknowledged scuffles in the Meadowridge parking lot and cases in which teens have been chased by other teens into the library. He said disputes that start at the Meadowridge neighborhood center, next door to the library, can spill into the library itself.