One year after airport-style security measures were implemented at Winnipeg’s downtown library, the city says hundreds of potentially dangerous items were seized, but critics of the beefed-up security say the seizures don’t paint a full picture.
The City of Winnipeg said it confiscated 378 items, including tools and blades, from people trying to get inside the Millennium Library between Feb. 24 and Dec. 31, 2019.
Ed Cuddy, manager of library services, said prior to the implementation of the security measures that the enhancements are to keep staff and patrons safe.
Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg and member of Millennium for All, said much of what was confiscated are everyday items.
“We could check anybody’s bag and find something that could be conceived or re-branded as a weapon. There were a lot of scissors in that pile, screwdrivers,” she said.
In the first six weeks of the new security measures, between Feb. 24 and April 5, 2019, a total of 171 items were seized.
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The top three items were knives (51), scissors (49) and screwdrivers (29). Other items included loose razor blades and saws.
The amount of seized items dropped steadily since that time.
In the following four weeks, between April 6 and May 3, 2019, a total of 55 items were seized.
Again, knives (9), screwdrivers (16) and scissors (11) topped the list.
In the final two months of 2019, just 20 items were sized.
Knives (10), scissors (8) and screwdrivers (6) remained in the top three.
Visits to the library also dropped in the first part of 2019, with 32 per cent fewer visitors between January and June of 2019.
“The list of items that have been seized says literally nothing about the effect of security on incidents inside the library,” Dobchuk-Land said.
“It is a fearmongering tactic. It’s meant to make us panic about what would happen if we took the security checkpoints down.”
Dobchuk-Land said she is pleased the city is exploring new options for security at the Millennium Library, but said the metal detectors and mandatory bag checks needs to stop immediately.
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