Hartford CT Library Calls Police on Sex Offender

Anonymous Patron writes “A convicted sex offender was observed using a public terminal at the Hartford Public Library for what a library official called “inaappropriate activity”. The homeless man was subsequently arrested on “charges of breach of peace and possession of child pornography”. The Courant reports .”

October 27, 2006 by Uncategorized 8

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8 Responses

  1. mdoneil says:
    October 27, 2006 at 6:54 am

    Outcry?
    Where is the outcry? Why is no one complaining that his activities were monitored? Why is no one complaining that he was censored?

    I have to assume that the police took the computer to preserve evidence. Was there an order from the Court or did the library staff give it to the police straight away.

    Is it more important to jail a pervert child molester than a bomb threat maker? Would there be an outcry if the computer had been taken without a Court Order in order to preserve evidence. Would it make any difference if the library director told the police they could not have the computer? Would it make any difference if it were a parent or other passerby that complained to the police rather than the library staff?

    These are the types of discussions we must have if we are to lend any credibility to the profession.

    N.B I have made inquiries as to some of the questions to facilitate any discussion into which we may wish to enter.

    Reply
  2. Chuck says:
    October 27, 2006 at 8:16 pm

    strawman
    In the absence of a response you could rage against, did you just invent one, and then rage against it?

    Weird. That’s some self-contained, sui generis weirdness. Weird.

    Reply
  3. tbrs1 says:
    October 27, 2006 at 8:57 pm

    Re:Outcry?
    I for one am glad another child molester is off the streets. Hopefully that were able to get a warrant in order to take the computer, but I think the library was correct in contacting the police.

    The article says
    “A convicted sex offender, who served time in a federal prison after he was caught soliciting sex from boys over the Internet, was arrested Tuesday after he was caught looking at child pornography on a computer at the main branch of the Hartford Public Library, officials said….

    Scott M. Murtagh, 36, who lives at the Stewart B. McKinney homeless shelter, faces new charges of breach of peace and possession of child pornography, police said….

    Police said security officers observed Murtagh viewing child pornography from a public computer in the adult section of the library.”

    Reply
  4. Chuck says:
    October 27, 2006 at 9:11 pm

    more substantive
    “I have to assume that the police took the computer to preserve evidence. Was there an order from the Court or did the library staff give it to the police straight away?”

    I would hope that a machine that has on it the personal information of law abiding taxpaying residents of Hartford would be protected by judicial review of its seizure as dicated by THE FOURTH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. Not the liberal, commie, Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s faking, latte-drinking Constitution. The actual Constitution.

    It applies even if you don’t like the person involved. It applies even if the person involved is loathsome.

    That’s the point.

    “Would there be an outcry if the computer had been taken without a Court Order in order to preserve evidence.”

    Maybe. Cops are allowed to do things without warrants if they believe that eveidence is being purposefully destroyed (your state may vary.) If they felt that was the case they could have acted accordingly, I suppose. If they seized it illegal I would there would be an outcry.

    The police aren’t the law. They have to follow it too.

    “Would it make any difference if the library director told the police they could not have the computer?”

    Depends on the library rules, how they are derived, state law and a bunch of other things.

    “These are the types of discussions we must have if we are to lend any credibility to the profession.”

    Our profession is credible as defenders of free expression and free inquiry. We are also credible as defenders of the rule of law. Most of the library staff in question in these kinds of cases have asked only that the police follow the law and the rules of the town.

    I like to think that we are also credible in not wetting our pants every time someone says “Do you love child molesters more than Jesus!?” or tries to rattle our cages with some crap about loving terrorists and hating America.

    The Constitution IS America. With out one there is not the other.

    Reply
  5. mdoneil says:
    October 28, 2006 at 1:09 am

    Good looking fella too…
    http://www.hartford.gov/police/PR_2006/MurtaghArre stOct2006.htm

    Reply
  6. Chuck says:
    October 28, 2006 at 10:47 pm

    Re:Good looking fella too…
    I know. He has “child molester” coming off him like stink lines in a cartoon.

    Reply
  7. Fang-Face says:
    October 29, 2006 at 4:06 pm

    Re:Good looking fella too…
    So he should he be punished because he’s ugly and his mother dresses him funny instead of for having molested a child? After all, thought crimes are so much easier to prove than actual crimes; all you need is an allegation instead of physical evidence.

    Reply
  8. Chuck says:
    October 30, 2006 at 9:30 pm

    Re:Good looking fella too…
    What are you even talking about?

    Reply

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