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Board increases security at libraries following rape

But some patrons and friends of the victim are still uneasy.

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

The victim was dropping off books at the library, east of Bell Shoals Road on Bloomingdale Avenue, after dark on the night of April 24, 2008.

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 24, 2009

VALRICO - A year after an 18-year-old East Bay High School student was beaten and raped outside the Bloomingdale Regional Library in Valrico, patrons and library employees alike are still nervous when they find themselves alone on the premises at night.

Among the most fearful are friends of the rape victim, who say they stay away from county libraries at night and have gotten in the habit of carrying mace.

"I don't go to libraries at night anymore, and most of my friends don't either," said Kelly Leeper, a 2008 East Bay graduate now attending the University of Tampa. She visits the rape victim two to three times a month and said her condition is a constant reminder of the dangers facing women when they are out alone.

"All of my friends have changed their patterns and routines," she said. "We don't go anywhere alone. If we go out late, we travel in groups. And when I'm walking to my car, my mace is never far away."
That's a stark contrast to her behavior before the attack, she said.

"Before this happened, I definitely would have dropped off books by myself," Leeper. "I would have thought nothing of it. A library should be a place where violence is the farthest thing from your mind. Now, I'm not sure if anything will make me feel safe."

That's understandable, said Joe Stines, director of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library System.

"This was a horrible crime, just so tragic," he said. "We were all blown away by what happened at the Bloomingdale library. It frightened all our staff and has been a wakeup call for all of us."

The victim was dropping off books at the library, east of Bell Shoals Road on Bloomingdale Avenue, after dark on the night of April 24, 2008. Investigators say Kendrick Morris, 17, of Clair-Mel, brutally attacked her and left her for dead.

Help came quickly because she was on her cell phone with a friend when the attack began, but she remains blind, paralyzed and unable to eat as she continues her slow recovery.

Morris has pleaded not guilty and is in jail with no bond awaiting a status hearing June 8.

Stines said the library system is adding security measures to all its libraries to increase safety and relieve the anxiety of patrons and workers.

The library board enlisted the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to conduct a survey of all 25 libraries to determine how it could enhance security. County commissioners also appointed a Tampa police officer to the library board. He, along with members of the library staff, conducted a risk management analysis of every facility in conjunction with the sheriff's office's review, Stines said.

As a result of the survey and risk analysis, the library board has instituted a number of changes and will make further improvements as funds become available. Foremost on the list is improved lighting, Stines said.

He said the library system is retrofitting libraries' outdoor lighting with brighter, more directional light that won't disturb neighbors.

"We've already adopted them in all our new buildings," he said. "They'll be giving us the most light possible within code."

The library system has long used video surveillance inside its facilities. It is now adding cameras to its parking lots as funds come available, starting with the most vulnerable facilities, said Stines.
Even if the libraries are more secure, Tampa resident Fernando Javier Jaramuzchett Alvarado, another friend of the attack victim, said he hasn't noticed it.

"The county isn't really doing too much to make public places any safer," he said.
"I haven't noticed any changes at the libraries I go to," Leeper said. "If they've made improvements, they aren't visible."

The director of libraries since 1991, Stines said it's his hope that the crime at the Bloomingdale library is an isolated incident.

"I can't think of any other incident of violent crime in all the time I've been here," he said. "We had a carjacking once. And there was a fight between some teens. But never anything like this."

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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