I don’t see any outrage; I see humor, and the correct assertion that the local PD must put a higher priority on this than most would.
I love the fact that she was arrested for not returning a book with ‘freedom’ in the title, in a town called Independence.
I posted some time ago that this happened to me.
It’s not because the powers that be are freaks about libraries but because the Constable makes money taking care of this stuff. He was cool about it but damn it was expensive by the time you added on his fees and the court costs.
I’m a Bad Library Boy!
My son was out of state and needed his transcript from the local JC. They would not send it. He had an over due fine. The book had been returned late. The damn computer never forgot that he still owed the fine. I went to pay it for him. the interest or what ever they used to keep jacking the owed amount had it up to $38.00 Grrrr
Plus the time and frustration and gas and Grrrrrrrrrr
I told him about too… Grrrrrrrr
Told him to stay off my weeds and dirt too. So there.
Huh - your library check-in staff isn’t doing their job. I’ve occasionally missed returning one CD from an audiobook, and I’ve always gotten a call within 24 hours.
Re the OP: Well, it’s nice the police weren’t busy with worse stuff - but as someone else noted, the woman ignored a PREVIOUS visit.
If she’d stolen the book from a bookstore, she’d have been arrested for shoplifting and probably faced a similar bail etc. I don’t see this as any different. Dummy could have reported the book missing months ago, and only been out of pocket for 20ish dollars (cost of book + perhaps an administrative fee). Consider the difference a tax on stupidity.