If the big “no loitering” sign and the speaker pumping classical music didn’t deter trouble from the porch of the North Bend Library, there were always the cameras.

Two low-resolution cameras eyed the parking lot and entrance of the library until last week, when the King County Library System dismantled its surveillance system, reasoning that the devices weren’t in keeping with its broader philosophy against snooping.

“We’re not in the surveillance business,” KCLS spokeswoman Julie Brand said.

KCLS used cameras at 10 of its 46 libraries; Cameras were taken down on June 1 at North Bend, the only library in the Valley to use them.

The cameras had been installed piecemeal over the last 15 years at various KCLS branches, as issues cropped up. In North Bend, Brand said the library had experienced a minor issue as a hangout for groups of teens, prompting the surveillance.

But Brand said the cameras were never intended to be a crime-solving tool. KCLS required police to have a court order before releasing tapes, a policy that began to cause an adversarial relationship with officers. When Des Moines police sought tapes after a 77-year-old man was assaulted in the parking lot of the Woodmont library, the issue came to a head.

“It gave us the opportunity to consider whether these cameras were something that was in line with our philosophies,” Brand said. “With libraries being founded on intellectual freedom… we felt the cameras were counter to that.”

KCLS seeks to protect the privacy of patrons, and what they may be borrowing and carrying out of the library, Brand said. She also downplayed the cameras’ security role, saying they never made a big difference.

“Cameras are only trained in a certain direction,” she said. “They weren’t super quality,” and staff didn’t routinely watch the tapes.

While library staff can’t monitor everything that happens outside the public buildings, Brand said they are alert to their surroundings.

“They’re regularly walking through the building, and are alert to things that are happening outside,” she said.

The cost of the system was about $30,000 a year.

“$30,000 is a lot of books,” Brand said.

Eye out for trouble?

North Bend Police Chief Mark Toner made a personal appeal in May to the King County Library System’s board of directors, asking them to keep the cameras or find a compromise.

“Cameras are the way to go,” said Toner, who believes the devices offer an impartial, continuous after-the-fact record of crimes.

“They help to focus the search,” he said. “If you have a business, I recommend having cameras… It’s surprising how many of our cases are solved that use video evidence. Right now, on my desk, I’ve got five different videos of cases,” including a felony auto theft and an embezzlement case.

Toner’s department requested footage from a dumpster arson fire that happened in April at the North Bend Library. The case is still under investigation, but the tape helps narrow the possibilities.

“It’s going to be pretty key once we get ready to pick the guy,” Toner said. “Like I told the library board, it’s not going to tell me if Joe Blow did it. But it will eliminate a bunch of other people as possible suspects.”

Surveillance cameras are becoming more common all the time. With estimates of the number of surveillance cameras in the United States into the millions, Toner has heard reports that the typical American is caught on camera between 50 and 100 times a day. If you visit a drive-through restaurant or hit the carpool lane, Toner said, someone or something is watching you.

“You just can’t avoid it these days,” he said.

Asked for his personal opinion, Toner says, “Eight hours a day, it’s great; 16 hours a day, it’s ‘stay out of my business.’”

There is no legal obligation for anybody to have a camera. With the cameras off at North Bend Library, Toner said it wouldn’t be right to install a new one nearby overlooking the facility; he respects the privacy decision.

“We’ll do without,” he said.

But Toner insists that cameras solve crimes.

“Even if it doesn’t deter (one) crime, how many more does it keep from happening?” he asked.

Valley patrons didn’t much mind the loss of the cameras. Several who spoke to the Record said they never noticed them before or felt strongly about keeping them.

“I think it’s kind of the norm nowadays,” said North Bend resident Carma Young. “If they’re here, they’re here. If they’re not, they’re not.”