Third air conditioner goes missing from U-M health center
Does a heat wave lead to a crime wave?
With temperatures increasing, air conditioning units have begun disappearing from a University of Michigan health center in the past two weeks.
An exterior air conditioner, the third in less than two weeks, reportedly was stolen from the West Ann Arbor Health Center at 4900 Jackson Road, according to the U-M Department of Public Safety.
The equipment went missing between 5 p.m. on May 18 and noon on May 21.
There are no known suspects at the time.
Two air conditioners previously were reported stolen from the same location on May 15. Those two units are believed to have been taken sometime between 6 p.m. on May 11 and 8 a.m. on May 14.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Santana Moss
Sun, May 27, 2012 : 4:14 p.m.
Santana Moss of the Washington Redskins helps FIGHT CRIME Santana Moss of the Redskins catches footballs for a living. He also helps law enforcement catch criminals too. He is the co-inventor of TheAcContact. The Ac Contact is a wireless security device that works in conjunction with any home or business security systems by providing instant notification of refrigerant loss of an air conditioner through real time monitoring. If someone attempts to steal an ac unit from a home of business, TheAcContact will notify the police while a crime is in progress, without this security device most thefts can go hours, days or even weeks before someone even realizes their air conditioner is gone
Hmm
Tue, May 29, 2012 : 2:38 p.m.
This has to be the strangest post ever. I'm going to google Santana Moss and see if he did invent this thing. How crazy would that be lol?
RJA
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 12:07 a.m.
Does the heat wave lead to a crime wave? Probably, especially air condition units. Now does the heat wave lead to other crimes like robbing a bank? Apparently not, when you rob in hooded sweatshirts. If things keep getting worse, we might have to bring the National Guard in like Detroit is talking about.
JRW
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 11:21 p.m.
You would think that a healthcare facility would have central air conditioning. I'm amazed that a relatively new building for healthcare purposes uses exterior air conditioning units.
sellers
Tue, May 29, 2012 : 12:19 p.m.
JRW: Central systems are central, and can not keep coolers cool, or cool rooms cool. They are general and central to general air. Specialized coolers are for specialized area. Maybe you could visit and investigate more what the conditioners were doing and report back to the readers.
daytona084
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 1:20 p.m.
Central air conditioning systems have an exterior unit called the condenser.
snooks
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 7:29 p.m.
Since 99% of the employees that work at West Ann Arbor Health Center are women, you're totally off base with it being an inside job........This clinic is an awesome clinic to work for and there is no way anyone in that office would do this. It's a leased building, not even U of M property. Plus, other buildings down the Jackson Rd. corridor are being hit.....not just this one!
Ann English
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 11:20 p.m.
I think you're calling attention to the fact that air conditioners are heavy. End of story.
Ed Kimball
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 1:27 p.m.
Are you implying that women don't commit crimes? That sounds sexist to me -- and unlikely to be true.
xmo
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 7:02 p.m.
I wonder if Ann Arbor is a top ten city for air conditioning units?
MRunner73
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 9:43 p.m.
Not in order for Top 10 AC cites: PHX, LAS, DAL, HOU, NEW, TPA, MIA, OKC, ATL, MEM... ARB lower top 100.
JayDee
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 5:37 p.m.
The heat wave has nothing to do with it. Thefts like this are all about cashing the goods in at a scrap yard for cash.
JRW
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 11:24 p.m.
Only the beginning of more things like this. Many cities have major problems with theft of manhole covers, which creates a major hazard, not to mention theft of metal siding from occupied houses. As the economy continues to tank, more of this is on the way.
Craig Lounsbury
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 4:56 p.m.
smokeblwr ha a good point, its outside the city limits by a fair amount. Plus it appears to be U of M property so they have their own police force and pay no taxes toward the County Sheriff or the A2 police.
eagleman
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 4:15 a.m.
I don't know why people are up voting GoNavy. His post is a non sequitor.
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 12:31 a.m.
feel free to argue my points, just don't create a straw man argument and argue points I never made as though I did.
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, May 26, 2012 : 12:28 a.m.
the problem is you missed my line of thinking completely. I am merely pointing out that this particular crime has no relevance to the slashing of police numbers within the city limits of Ann Arbor. Nothing more. The crime was outside the jurisdiction of Ann Arbor police. So who's jurisdiction is it? Scio township contracts with the Washtenaw County Sheriff but this particular property is under the realm of the University which has its own police department. They don't pay for County service like the Township does.
GoNavy
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 6:58 p.m.
Ya. The problem with that line of thinking is that it ignores the fact that - simply through its presence - the University of Michigan enables all sorts of economic activity and growth in Ann Arbor that would not otherwise exist. Do you think that, absent the University, Ann Arbor would be this great and wonderful place, large enough to support a police force that was able to double its office space in the last couple of years? There's no lake here, it's not the center of any historical routes of real commerce, there's little if any manufacturing nearby, etc. Eliminate the University, and I promise that the aggregate tax collection in the city of Ann Arbor will plummet. As in, to levels that won't support anything in its current incarnation in this city.
Barzoom
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 4:46 p.m.
When you don't have enough people to investigate crimes, you just pretend they didn't happen. Therefore, the crime rate is decreasing.
smokeblwr
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 4:31 p.m.
This isn't Ann Arbor though, it's crime in Scio Twp.
MRunner73
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 3:59 p.m.
According to the Mayor, the crime rate in Ann Arbor has been dropping. Let's just look the other way.
GoNavy
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 3:56 p.m.
Hmm. The words "inside job" come to mind. Are there no surveillance cameras? If not, this is a great way to inform enterprising individuals of the availability of all sorts of "free stuff" that can be had from the medical center.
GoNavy
Mon, May 28, 2012 : 11:40 p.m.
@ Snooks- Besides a theft problem, sounds like the clinic has a diversity issue.
snooks
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 7:30 p.m.
Since 99% of the employees that work at West Ann Arbor Health Center are women, you're totally off base with it being an inside job........This clinic is an awesome clinic to work for and there is no way anyone in that office would do this. It's a leased building, not even U of M property. Plus, other buildings down the Jackson Rd. corridor are being hit.....not just this one!