[saquin]

True, but the PD is in the phone book and a simple call back to them would take less than a minute.

The library said they concluded within 10 minutes that it was a legitimate request and they could provide the information. That seems to me a very reasonable timeframe. I think you're dreaming if you think a phone call to verify this would take less than a minute. In the real world, these things take longer. The person who answers the phone might not be entirely up to date with what's happening in the field, checks with his superiors who checks with the officers in the field, determines a request was made, gets back to the library with that info, etc. I can easily see that taking several minutes.

[plan2succeed.org]

You said, "The library said they concluded within 10 minutes that it was a legitimate request and they could provide the information." You are missing the point as well.

The way I read the article, the libraians refused to respond following policy in place. I read the policy. It says to do what the librarians did -- essentially refuse the police. Steiner's statements only come later, and only as a reaction to the refusal by her staff to provide the information, and they are not written into the policy. She actually must have said to herself, oh my gosh, what have you done here, of course you can give the police the information in this circumstance. So actually, she did the right thing.

The point is why is that unforgiving policy in place in the first place.