Security incidents, attendance fall at Millennium Library: report

New safety measures at Millennium Library appear to be working, but they could be impacting attendance.

Following a homicide at the library in December of 2022, a metal detector, five additional security guards and nine community safety hosts were added.

An initial quarterly report says while security concerns continue, incidents fell from 264 to 187 in the last three months of 2023, compared to the same timeframe the year before.

The highest number of incidents at Millennium Library in December was inappropriate behaviour, of which there were 32, up from December 2022, which had 15 such incidents.

Meantime, assaults were down, with two reported in December 2023, down from eight during the same month in 2022.

The report also says because of safety hosts interacting with people, incidents requiring emergency services fell by up to 89 per cent.

However, the report says library attendance was down in the last quarter of 2023 as staff are reporting some patrons don't like the metal detection gate, adding that rebuilding customer trust will take time.

The report also notes the new security measures may not be entirely the culprit of lower attendance.

“The downtown office worker community has changed, during and since the pandemic, with lower numbers of office workers in the area,” the report said.

Millennium Library incident report released