Either the police in a Massachusetts town must not have very much to do or the library wields extraordinary power: A mom says the local library sent a cop to her doorstep to tell her 5-year-old daughter she either had to return her overdue books or pay the fines.

The little girl was so upset and afraid by the sight of a police sergeant on the doorstep informing her mom, Shannon, that her two books were several months overdue, she burst into tears, says CBS Boston.

“I thought it was way overboard,” says Shannon. “I closed my door, I looked at my daughter and she started crying.”

Her daughter Hailey asked if she was going to get arrested, telling the news station, “I was scared.”

So they found the books and returned them, but Shannon thinks the library’s use of the police force was excessive.

Even the cops felt funny about it!

“Nobody wanted to, on this end to get involved in it,” says Sgt. Dowd. “But the library contacted us, and the chief delegated, and apparently I was one of the low men on the totem pole.”

It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it…?

Charlton Library Sends Police To Collect Overdue Books From 5-Year-Old [CBS Boston]

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