In honor of National Library Week (#NationalLibraryWeek), April 9–15, 2017, the COPS Office is pleased to feature the partnership work between the Anne Arundel County Police Department and the Severn Branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library.

Dozens of children gather around Corporal Russell Ziebell to show him their construction paper patrol cars, ask questions, and get hugs. Earlier, he and library associate Christeen Moore read stories about police as part of ‘Community Helpers’ Preschool Storytime, a library program for children to build early literacy skills needed for school readiness.  Cpl. Ziebell is with the Western District Police and Community Together unit of the Anne Arundel County Police Department(AACPD). He works with organizations and community members throughout the western district, including the Severn Branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library (AACPL). At this library event, more than 100 participants—children and their parents—spent the morning with Cpl. Ziebell and learned about the police department.

Branch manager Ashley Rogers originally reached out to the police for assistance with possible safety concerns related to a gun legislation meeting scheduled in the library’s public meeting room. Cpl. Ziebell followed up with support, and the library has called on him since for other assistance, including Preschool Storytime and other community programs.

The AACPD is also involved in library staff trainings and support for library employees. The police Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) visits library staff meetings to provide information on CIT and resources such as the Anne Arundel Community Warmline, a hotline for family and children handled by staff or the crisis response team. Officers also provide active shooter training and teen and adult mental health training to library staff who work with community members at library branches. These trainings and meetings also provide opportunities for the police and librarians to learn about additional resources and strengthen relationships.

The police department and the library also engage in a number of other partner activities, including the following:

• Coffee with a Cop is an ongoing program at various library branches, including bilingual Coffee with a Cop events at Brooklyn Park Community Library.
• AACPL events in which police have participated, including Every Child Ready to Read storytimes, Summer Reading Kickoff events, Community Heroes Day, and information tables by the AACPD. Every year the AACPD brings the Bearcat to the Anne Arundel STEM Day event at Glen Burnie Regional Library.
• AACPL supplies books and materials as requested to the AACPD to have in their literacy bags for kids when they are in contact with cops like at the station and in the cop cars, as well as materials for AACPD’s bags at the Anne Arundel County Fair.
• The AACPD has hosted trainings at library branches:
  • Judy Center and Teen Mental Health Training at Brooklyn Park Community Library
  • Maryland Natural Resources Police – hunter safety instructor training at Odenton Regional Library

Cpl. Ziebell reports that his days are varied but he is engaged with community members or working on projects to provide support to residents in the Western District and throughout Anne Arundel County. It is obvious from the warm compliments of library staff and the hugs and smiles of children at the recent storytime that Cpl. Russell Ziebell has a strong, established relationship with the community members at Severn Branch, Anne Arundel County Public Library.

Ashley Rogers
Branch Manager
Severn Community Library

Elizabeth Simpson
Editor