Extra security added outside Ann Arbor parking structure in wake of assaults on women
RSIG Security guard David Moore opens a door for a woman entering the Liberty Square parking structure on Wednesday.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
As Ann Arbor Police continue to investigate six recent assaults on women in the city, private security guards have taken up posts outside the Liberty Square parking structure.
That structure— where a woman was raped July 18 inside an elevator — has reserved parking spaces for many downtown employees, including those who work inside the McKinley Towne Centre at East Liberty and Division streets. The centre houses Google, Ann Arbor SPARK, the Bodman law offices, and several restaurants, including Bar Louie, which is open daily until 2 a.m.
McKinley is paying for the added security.
The parking area, with an auto entrance on east Washington Street and pedestrian entrances on Washington and Liberty streets, is owned by the city, and the Downtown Development Authority contracts management to Republic Parking. A lower level retail space is owned by McKinley Inc., which also owns the nearby retail center.
Tom Gritter, McKinley’s vice president and managing director of commercial real estate, said one security guard was added to walk around the Liberty Square structure a year ago, to make sure employees in the nearby Towne Center felt safe before and after work.
Last week, a second person was added after word spread of an assault in the structure, he said.
The guards are from the private company RSIG Security and remain stationed by the structure’s Liberty Street and Washington Street entrances and around the structure from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The six assaults on women occurred between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and July 26. Two of the women were raped.
“We just want to make sure people feel comfortable and help them through what we’re dealing with right now,” Gritter said.
Many who park in the garage say the extra security has been a relief amid a period of uncertainty in the city. Police have received more than 500 tips of possible suspects in the recent assaults, but have yet to make an arrest.
“For someone who drives to work alone, I think it’s great,” said Maria Feldman, 25, who works downtown and parks in the garage regularly.
Feldman said she’s relieved the attacks have happened during the summer, when extended daylight keeps her from leaving work in the dark. Still, she said, the idea of walking to her car alone makes her uneasy.
According to Joan Lowenstein, a member of the Downtown Development Authority board, Republic Parking employees patrol the city’s garages regularly to clean and help enforce safety. The service does not staff security guards.
“There are just these pretty frequent tours by Republic Parking personnel,” Lowenstein said. “They go and check each floor and that’s been routine over the years. What they’ve done is just increased those tours (recently).”
Toby Wacker, who owns lab, a downtown coffee shop next to the parking structure’s Liberty Street entrance, said he worries having outside security officers will perpetuate fear downtown. He acknowledged the concerns many have, but worries having guards near the garage will make some uneasy.
Erick Michael shared some of the same concerns as he sat outside an entrance to the structure on Wednesday.
“If we’re going to catch a guy, he needs to not know what we’re doing,” Michael said, noting he worries that suspects would only head to other parts of the city.
Michael said he hoped to see undercover security officers in city garages, a move he thought would be more efficient.
“If you’re really trying to prevent something, it’s better to do it when people know they are not being watched,” he said.
Heidi Fenton covers police and courts for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at heidifenton@annarbor.com or 734-623-4673. You also can follow her on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.
Comments
Laurel
Sun, Sep 4, 2011 : 7:31 p.m.
Just curious, I wonder if the police have looked into the number of posts on the Ann Arbor Craigslist page this summer that feature one man's violent sexual fantasies. It seems coincidental, or not, that just before the number of sexual assaults on women spiked, there were a flood of daily posts outlining urges to attack women and sexually control them.
Laurel
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:18 a.m.
If it weren't for this being a college town, I wonder how long it would have taken to see any real action. In January, there was a serial rapist attacking women in Detroit and the media and police follow up seemed to lag quite a bit. We need to start looking at sexual assault charges for what they really are. Most people blame the victim, perpetuating that whole "she-was-asking-for-it" ideology, but in reality these are crimes committed by a certain group of people who use the fact that they are men against another 'inferior' person. These are hate crimes, where men use their strength and their gender against women. If someone assaults you with a gun, they lose their weapon. When else can someone assault you with their choice weapon (their penis) and get to keep their choice weapon to use repeatedly against you? That is unjust so the punishment should be harsh! I am not suggesting we castrate the assailants, but I do feel that more should be done to rapidly resolve this before we lose any more in the meantime. Unless we rally as a community and embrace the fact that there are more police officers in the area by working with them to solve this we will waste a pivotal opportunity. With more attention being paid to our community, we need to use that to our advantage to take a harder look at ourselves from a more objective perspective. Otherwise, we will not reach our full potential in dealing with this and will limit ourselves from ever catching the suspect(s). This is not a time to muddy the waters or point fingers to push alternative political agendas, no one cares about that here. It's too abstract for the dangerous, concrete issues at hand. This is a time to stick by our women. Your mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, cousins, and friends are all at risk and need all of our support to ensure their ability to live safely in this community. The focus should be this story right now, and every other one out there just like it. How did we become so desensitized??
Laurel
Sat, Aug 6, 2011 : 1:24 a.m.
While that may be slightly true, some of the banter that has surrounded this issue is not productive and is hardly related to this issue. Many people are spinning this into a political debate, what it should be a debate about is how we view rape in our own culture. We like to promote how progressive we are and that we're a country that abides by justice but the way rape cases are handled is counter productive and more damning for the women who've been assaulted. Luckily, most of the comments that are to do with this are coming from people who have never endured a personal tragedy such as this. If it were, some of the commentary that you seem to be defending (that really is making NO difference at all), would not be had and the discussion would probe deeper into the issue rather than muddying the waters in a lame attempt at pushing personal political agendas.
jcj
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 4:53 p.m.
Looking at possible solutions to this problem is part of the story. And looking at how those possible solutions are funded is also part of the story. As is debating how effective those possible solutions will be.
roadsidedinerlover
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 4:32 a.m.
@ A2wookie....yes, I want close circuit cameras and anything else that will protect the females in A2 from this dangerous predator!! Thank you Mckinley!
julieswhimsies
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 8:58 p.m.
Okay. I'm confused. They posted a few security guards in the one structure, who will be patrolling only during the hours when these women were NOT attacked?! ...or is this just poor writing? What about the other parking structures? We need beat cops out there...not a few extra Rent-A-Cops in ONE parking structure.
Laurel
Mon, Aug 8, 2011 : 5:54 p.m.
Hmm. I am not quite sure how I could clarify this for you if you aren't already getting it. The city of Ann Arbor has taken more action. You suggest increasing the beat cops on the streets, this is something that has already been done. I am surprised you have not noticed already. I am curious how far you reside from town. In commuting the short way from downtown to my home, it is amazing to see the number of police currently out there actually patrolling. Several times each night, cop cars drive near my house (off Liberty) without their lights on searching/patrolling the dim city streets and this is taking place throughout the city, not just near my home. In addition to our own police the FBI is working on these cases as well. You asked if it was poor writing in your comment, to which I replied about this article. This article does not address some the information found in some of the other articles regarding this issue, but this article is not about what the city has done, there are others on the website here that cover more of how the city and police are responding. Instead this article covers the actions taken by a private company in response to the recent attacks. It would be nice if there were a way to tie all these snip-it articles together, rather than posting a snip here and there, it would provide the community a full picture of the collective efforts to resolve this. You talk about other parking structures, while the city has upped the police crack down, I think it is important for the rest of the private industries to make sure they have safeguards in place. Whether that be cameras or security or both, the city should not have to be responsible for every dark parking lot or corner. Everyone should be responsible and until everyone works responsibly in unison, things will go unresolved. As a community, we need to come together and look out for one another and cannot reside on the police or private investment alone to cover our backs.
julieswhimsies
Sat, Aug 6, 2011 : 1:58 a.m.
What are you trying to say here, Laurel? Please clarify your remark.
Laurel
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:21 a.m.
Have you not noticed the patrol cars and unmarked cars creeping up the streets?? I don't think they covered every aspect of things in this article because the city has taken more action, this was one isolated incident with a private company, in this case McKinley. Certainly you don't expect them to walk the city through this one??
nixon41
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 8:45 p.m.
Why are you posting this when "HE" will know where the police are & go elsewhere to attack women.
Tru2Blu76
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:06 p.m.
Gov. $nyder, in answer to concerns over HIS reductions of city and state police services: "The Invisible Hand of the Free Market will take care of that." --- THIS (hiring private security rent-a-cops) is *exactly what he meant.* I'd be interested to learn if $nyder had a hand in McKinley's decision to put a couple of private guards at their parking structure. Who doesn't understand now that we elected Republican lunatics to run Michigan? And they're running the country too: witness this outrageous stalling over the debt ceiling. The "private response" was a drop in the stock market plus more doom and gloom for consumers, job holders and businesses. "Brilliant" Republican strategy! I agree with Ricebrnr: our lives are in our own hands. Trouble is, a lot of businesses prohibit their "employees" from carrying (even) licensed handguns. Throughout Michigan, there are scores of businesses which post signs prohibiting CUSTOMERS from carrying their licensed handguns. (The list of those is on the MCRGO.org website.)
Laurel
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:23 a.m.
Extra hands are extra hands, no matter who pays for their help...
lugemachine
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:51 p.m.
So which is it: Cameras good or cameras bad? Don't forget this little absurdity: <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/news/u-m-student-group-announces-ordinance-to-restrict-use-of-police-surveillance-cameras/">http://www.annarbor.com/news/u-m-student-group-announces-ordinance-to-restrict-use-of-police-surveillance-cameras/</a>. The ACLU sometimes does good work. It also sometimes sounds really silly. This article is an example of the latter. Cameras (particularly when conspicuous) DO deter crime.. and they can help solve crime even if they don't see the crime take place. They see people... people coming and going. And sometimes they see bad people on their way to, or on their way from, doing bad things. That kind of imagery frequently solves crimes. If you're not doing anything wrong, then what's to fear?
David Cahill
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 5:45 p.m.
Thanks to McKinley for the guards!
Cindy Heflin
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:09 p.m.
A comment about someone's appearance was removed.
JMA2Y
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:06 p.m.
There wasn't a camera in the elevator? I thought all elevators had hidden cameras. So, they have no footage of the attack or better images of the attacker? Aside from one in the elevator, there should be cameras throughout the structure-in all parking structures.
RJA
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 3:14 p.m.
No guard on the midnight shift?? (11 p.m. till 7 a.m.) Nothing good happens after 11 p.m. Are these hours open for the cowards to start looking for targets?
jrigglem
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:14 p.m.
My thoughts exactly. If the attacks happened at 2am, why wouldn't you put a guard up during those high crime hours. Not have them leave an hour before that. *Sigh*
racerx
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:37 p.m.
"There are just these pretty frequent tours by Republic Parking personnel," Lowenstein said. "They go and check each floor and that's been routine over the years. What they've done is just increased those tours (recently)." So, these tours were just personnel, sometimes, walking through the structures if they were done at all, and now, personnel will begin doing again what they should had been doing in the first place, right? She was appointed by the mayor after she lost her council seat right? Same cloth, just cut differently. Thanks to McKinley for being more pro-active than what Republic/DDA could have ever thought of.
racerx
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 6:42 p.m.
@Rrrrrodney Stuckey-the city along with Republic Parking owns the Liberty Square lot, not McKinley. McKinley uses this lot for their employees parking. A
Ricebrnr
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:23 p.m.
"private security guards have taken up posts OUTSIDE the Liberty Square parking structure." "That structure— where a woman was raped July 18 inside an elevator " "remain stationed by the structure's Liberty Street and Washington Street entrances and around the structure from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday. " "The six assaults on women occurred between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and July 26. Two of the women were raped." ""We just want to make sure people feel comfortable and help them through what we're dealing with right now," Gritter said. " Well I'm sure they accomplished the goal of making people FEEL comfortable. When will people wake up and actually make themselves safer? Security theater, not on part with the TSA, but theater all the same.
bhall
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 2:21 p.m.
Funniest part of this story: "Michael said he hoped to see undercover security officers in city garages, a move he thought would be more efficient." LoL! If you can see the undercover security officers, they're not so undercover, or efficient!
pbehjatnia
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 1:18 p.m.
Hmm. If I were a criminal looking to commit a crime, and the news media all tell me that I have been active in this place between these hours, well, I kinda think I would lie low for a bit (as long as I could stand to) and then I would change my location if I can't change my hours. Guards are a nice gesture, but that's all it is.
aanonliberal
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 1:04 p.m.
Ms. Lowenstein, weren't you the one that said "increased police (security) presence did nothing to deter crime" when you were asked last week by annarbor.com. Why do the "frequent patrols" if they do nothing? Or was that just words to stay close with your "buddies" on council? Mayor, Police Chief, City Council, Tom Crawford are you listening? The citizens of Ann Arbor are talking. They need MORE security and do not feel safe. Keep your secret meetings up (a2politico.com) and keep trying to rationalize 4" tall grass versus public safety. I hope Mr. Powers, the new city administrator, has an open ear for the citizens!
Bill
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 7:30 p.m.
Let's not forget the good things the Ann Arbor city government was able to do recently by squashing a radical split rail fence installed in a historical district. That issue was dealt with immediately.
porchbear
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 12:48 p.m.
Thanks McKinley! As a resident of one of your properties, I see and appreciate your company-wide commitment to safety.
Wolf's Bane
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 12:33 p.m.
Typical band-aid fix. Hire more bodies to patrol structures? Really? How about motion detectors, close circuit cameras and a small security office on the first floor? For god sakes, let's actually try to permanently fix the situation instead hiring rent-a-cops? Need I remind Lowenstein, that citizens are being assaulted!!!
jcj
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 2:44 p.m.
I may have misinterpreted Wookie's comments. "Need I remind Lowenstein, that citizens are being assaulted!!!" How many assaults were at this structure? And you missed my point. You could put up 100 cameras and 100 guards in this structure and the assaults will not end just change location. Who will pay for security in other structures?
Wolf's Bane
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 11:37 a.m.
jcj, studies show that a permanent and visible security force ids a great deterrent. Don't believe? Feel free to google the stats like I did.
Laurel
Fri, Aug 5, 2011 : 6:27 a.m.
JCJ, I think you are missing the point here. This is not being paid for by the city. McKinley properties are paying for this, perhaps reread and try again...
MikeyP
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 11:25 p.m.
Having guards in the area is more cost-effective and efficient than cameras/motion detectors. You'd still have to pay someone to sit there and stare at the monitors, and given how the cameras are often mounted the images recorded are usually quite useless in actually identifying the attacker. However, having someone there randomly patrolling and able to react (and summon more help) is more bang for your security buck.
jcj
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 5:15 p.m.
Concentration camp might not be the best comparison. But if you put a security tower with guards on every other corner the perps would find a spot! My point is the city can spend as much as you want and the slime will do their deed some where else in the dark. I am not against more security, but spending money on a "small security office on the first floor" would be a waste of that same money.
Wolf's Bane
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 4:31 p.m.
Concentration camp towers? Where are you living and, more importantly, what are you on? All I'm hinting at here is that privately held parking structures should be more secure and factor in late night use AND safeguard their users!!!
jcj
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 : 12:53 p.m.
"Typical band-aid fix." I say typical spend what you don't have solution that will not "fix" the problem! And while were at it put camera's on every street corner and every alley in town! Maybe we could build towers on every corner like they have in concentration camps.