In response to instances of theft and vandalism at the Durango Public Library, the city will pay to install surveillance equipment at the new facility later this summer.

Library Director Sherry Taber said her staff is drafting a request for funding for the project and stressed that the cameras will be used to ensure patron safety, and the tapes will be viewed only in response to complaints. The project is expected to cost the city $70,000.

A ribbon-cutting for the library was held in December 2008, and so far, coats have been stolen, permanent markers have been used to deface hallway walls and bathrooms, and the exterior of the building has been tagged with graffiti. Books regularly are checked out and never come back. This spring, a laptop was left unattended by a patron who went to the bathroom and returned to find the computer missing.

Taber said the laptop incident was the last straw for her. She and members of her staff will hold a walk-through with two security consultants Monday to determine how to effectively cover the whole facility.

“It’s a beautiful new building, and we just don’t think that’s appropriate,” she said of the bad behavior.

The library already has restricted areas and a security system that monitors the building during closing hours, but additional internal security measures were left out of the building’s final design, though Taber said she and designers strongly thought about including them.

The Durango Community Recreation Center - opened in 2001 - also installed surveillance cameras in response to thefts. Someone had been cutting the locks off of lockers and stealing the contents, including several credit cards. In response, eleven cameras went up in July 2008 - five in the center’s parking lots and six inside the building - at a cost of $6,400.

“That guy was hitting us pretty hard,” said Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz. “We thought it was absolutely necessary.”

Last month, evidence collected from the cameras helped put former Telluride resident Dana Edwin McCrum, 49, away for six years for felony identity theft. He was apprehended in Grand Junction in January after a $3,500 spending spree, during which he made several successful ATM withdrawals with the stolen cards, purchasing skis, malt scotch and a camera, among other items.

Metz said the cameras have been mutually beneficial to the center, its patrons and the Durango Police Department, which regularly uses footage from the center’s cameras in other criminal investigations.

“We’re seeing less theft in the center, and when it does occur, we have something to turn over to the police,” Metz said. “It’s definitely been worthwhile.”

gandrews@durangoherald.com