In one of the stupid crook stories I told you about a man who got fried trying to steal copper in the form of a live wire at a power substation. Sadly though this isn’t the only target for these drug addicted fiends.

The target I am referring to is your AC unit outside of your home. What these guys do to get quick cash for drugs is break into AC units outside of homes which can occur even if you are home if they catch you while you are sleeping. Once they break into the unit they steal the copper coils or basically a good portion of the guts of your AC unit!

At this point your AC unit is now worthless and you are shelling out the deductible. If during the summer it’ll cost you even more in money and sweating!

The worst part is that this isn’t a crime that generally draws the attention of the media so it may be happening in your area without you even knowing. A good way to find out is check with your local police department or use their website , if they have one. If there is a neighborhood watch for your area ask them to see if this is going on around you so you can try some prevention techniques.

As I mentioned talking to your local police department or neighborhood watch is the best place to get started. Next you need to make your AC unit an undesirable target. They sell or if you are handy you can make, an enclosure (with proper ventilation) that you can lock.

There are lower cost solutions like adding motion activated lights on the side of the house your AC unit is on and you can get these at any department or hardware store. We also sell an alarm called the Voice alert. You would put the sensor on the side of the house and the base inside somewhere that you can hear it. When motion is activated it will tell play the message you set like “someone on the side of the house” etc.

If you plan on being away for a while ask your neighbors to help keep an eye open. If you are installing an AC unit to an existing home think about placing it back behind your fence. Any barriers you can place between the junkie and your AC unit will help increase the chance they will move on to an easier target.

Voice Alert

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Crime, Stupid Crooks | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.