On March 15, a scuffle with four truant youths at Martin Luther King library left D.C. Public Library Police Officer Karen Leach with a broken hand. Her injury also left the Mount Pleasant Branch Library, where Leach patrols full-time Tuesday to Saturday, without a guard, touching off a mini crime wave: On April 10, a man with a video camera mysteriously appeared at the entrance of the branch’s children’s room. Later in the day, a patron reported a man masturbating in the stacks. A week later, a man verbally accosted a branch employee. All the hubbub is unusual, says Mount Pleasant branch manager Ellen Kardy. “When we have security officers around here, practically nothing ever happens,” she says. Last week, members of the Friends of Mount Pleasant Library contacted library administrators about the incidents. Their pleas worked: By April 23, a roving Library Police officer and a D.C. Protective Services guard had begun regular patrols of the branch. —Mike DeBonis