That’s what AAPD chief Barnett Jones calls the recent rash of armed robberies at local businesses. Between the stickups at Schlanderer’s jewelry store, a second-floor marijuana clinic downtown, the Bank of America on Eisenhower, and the Lake Trust Credit Union on Packard, “red alerts” from the AAPD and school lockdowns seemed to be coming almost weekly this fall.
The Schlanderer’s robbery is still under investigation–Jones says it’s part of a larger pattern of crimes–but he points out that “we were one of the agencies that did manage to catch them [the robbers].” As for the robbery at the Liberty clinic at 206 S. Main, he says, a “young man had been there a week prior.” He and friends drove in from out of town “because they figured it would be easy to knock it over. And that’s what they did.” The police caught all three of them. Still at large is the lone gunman who robbed the credit union and the two who held up the bank.
Jones is on a mission to get Ann Arborites to secure their homes and businesses. “People say to me, ‘I’ve lived in Ann Arbor for years and I never lock my door,'” he says. “Well, that’s wrong.” For one thing, he points out, “now we’re not only dealing with local criminals but those from elsewhere. Because criminals don’t go to places with other have-nots. They go to places where the haves live.”
