Library of Congress Police

There are more than 30 small federal police forces operating in the District of Columbia. The Library of Congress (LOC) Police is one such agency with only 122 sworn officers and five civilians on staff. The LOC Police operate within the Capitol Hill area along with the Government Printing Office (GPO) Police and the United States Capitol Police (USCP). All three police forces are part of the legislative branch of the federal government.

The library was established for the use of Congress by law in 1800. Eventually its services were expanded to the attorney general of the United States and justices of the Supreme Court and to the general public by 1866. But the institution did not get its own special police agency until 1950. In 1987, LOC police officers were authorized to carry firearms (a nine-millimeter pistol) and make arrests. Unlike the USCP and the U.S. Supreme Court Police, however, the LOC police officers have to leave their weapons at work when they go off duty. The LOC police force does not have a single squad car.

LOC police are part of the LOC's Office of Security, which in fiscal year 2003 submitted a budget request of about $14 million. The Office of Security reports to the librarian of Congress. The librarian is appointed by the U.S. President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The major task of the LOC police force is to provide security for the collections, staff, and visitors to the library, a charge that requires maintaining a fine balance between safeguarding one of the most unique institutions in the world and providing access to an open public space that gets 1 million visitors annually. Library police are officially assigned to one of two 12-hour shifts, working four days a week with three days off. They are usually scheduled for 10 hours on regular pay and then earn two hours overtime.

LOC police officers perform a variety of law enforcement and security functions within six buildings and parking lots adjacent to these buildings, including the Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Library's Child Care Center, Taylor Street annex, and Landover, Maryland annex. More than 17 million books, 48 million original manuscripts, 4.4 million maps, and 16 million audiovisual materials are monitored by walking patrols, visitor control, static posts, and control room operations.

The security in the LOC was tightened in the early 1990s when it was detected that almost $2 million worth of printed materials had been stolen from the Library's 532 miles of bookshelves. The stacks are now blocked by electronic doors to the public and to all but a tenth of Library staff. Police officers monitor visitors and the staff by using the metal detectors at the building's entries and theft detection system at the exit points. Researchers have to register in person by presenting a valid photo ID and are allowed to bring only pencils and marked paper into the reading rooms. All reading rooms and stacks are constantly surveyed by closed circuit television. Missing items are now reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and art dealers, booksellers, and auction houses are alerted immediately.

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