IN HIS EARLY2014 presentation to City Council and the public, Ann Arbor Police Chief John Seto reported that Part I crime in Ann Arbor was down over the previous year. While the report included numbers for burglaries and larcenies, it did not include numbers for drug crimes. It was not until the Ann Arbor District Library’s Director spoke before City Council in March that Council or the public became aware of drug crime and drug use at the Downtown Library.
It was not until The Ann Arbor Independent used the Freedom of Information Act to get emails between AADL Director Josie Parker and the Board that the public discovered AADL Trustees had been alerted to the sale of heroin in the Downtown Library in October 2011. AADL meeting minutes confirmed that neither Parker nor the Trustees discussed heroin overdoses or heroin sales at open meetings. In effect, the AADL’s elected board members kept the public in the dark, even as tens of thousands of children and teens continued to visit the facility.
AADL Trustee Prue Rosenthal responded to Parker’s email that it would be damaging should the public know about the sale of heroin in the Downtown Library and, in fact, it wasn’t until 36 months later that Josie Parker told City Council at an open meeting.
As the reports below indicate, drug crime in Ann Arbor is by no means centered around or limited to the Downtown library—visits to which Josie Parker has warned should be treated with caution, as with visits to other public spaces. Library staff recently created and implemented a policy for the handling of drugs found on premises. The new policy calls for “controlled substances” to be handled by two staff members, logged in and for police to be contacted.
In past, AADL incident reports indicated that substances suspected to be drugs were disposed of by individual AADL security staff, the disposal being documented in an incident report. This means that drug crime reporting by the AAPD between 2011 and 2014 was inaccurate as data would not have reflected drugs and drug paraphernalia found and disposed of by AADL staff.
In June 2014, AAPD reported eight drug crimes, and in July 2014 there were 14 drug crimes reported.
AMPHETAMINE -POSSESS 140034196 1900 BLOCK PLYMOUTH RD Ann Arbor Police 7/12/2014 06:41 AM
AMPHETAMINE -POSSESS 140018690 2100 BLOCK HEMLOCK DR Ann Arbor Police 4/20/2014 08:37 PM
CRACK -POSSESS 140026227 BURWOOD AVE&FAIR ST Ann Arbor Police 5/30/2014 03:05 AM
CRACK -POSSESS 140017744 700 BLOCK VICTORS WAY Ann Arbor Police 4/15/2014 03:05 PM
CRACK -POSSESS 140007050 CHAMPAGNE DR&STONE SCHOOL RD Ann Arbor Police 2/14/2014 06:03 PM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140014995 2000 BLOCK PAULINE BLVD Ann Arbor Police 4/1/2014 01:54 PM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140014194 600 BLOCK W STADIUM BLVD Ann Arbor Police 3/28/2014 12:52 PM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140018713 3700 BLOCK WASHTENAW AVE Ann Arbor Police 4/21/2014 12:20 AM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140026181 700 BLOCK CHURCH ST Ann Arbor Police 5/29/2014 08:59 PM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140032649 300 BLOCK S DIVISION ST Ann Arbor Police 7/3/2014 02:13 AM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140025616 700 BLOCK BARCLAY CT Ann Arbor Police 5/27/2014 09:05 AM
DANGEROUS DRUGS (OTHER) 140005870 2500 BLOCK ARROWWOOD TRL Ann Arbor Police 2/7/2014 04:43 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140027933 N MAIN ST&MILLER AVE Ann Arbor Police 6/7/2014 11:24 AM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140029628 2700 BLOCK CUMBERLAND AVE Ann Arbor Police 6/16/2014 02:19 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140035923 2300 BLOCK JONATHAN CT Ann Arbor Police 7/22/2014 05:32 AM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140034998 S MAPLE RD&JACKSON AVE Ann Arbor Police 7/16/2014 08:37 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140032808 200 BLOCK S STATE ST Ann Arbor Police 7/3/2014 11:33 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140008707 300 BLOCK S STATE ST Ann Arbor Police 2/24/2014 10:27 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140031804 1500 BLOCK BRIARWOOD CIR Ann Arbor Police 6/28/2014 06:12 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140030644 E EISENHOWER PKWY&S INDUSTRIAL Ann Arbor Police 6/21/2014 04:11 PM
HEROIN -POSSESS 140023396 3500 BLOCK S STATE ST Ann Arbor Police 5/14/2014 12:54 PM
NARCOTIC DRUGS, FRAUDULENT PROCUREMENT OF 140034958
200 BLOCK COLUMBUS DR Ann Arbor Police 7/16/2014 05:09 PM
NARCOTIC DRUGS, FRAUDULENT PROCUREMENT OF 140011887 700 BLOCK S FOREST AVE Ann Arbor Police 3/15/2014 11:06 PM
NARCOTIC DRUGS, FRAUDULENT PROCUREMENT OF 140033659 1900 BLOCK PAULINE BLVD Ann Arbor Police 5/2/2014 10:00 AM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140013343 3700 BLOCK WASHTENAW AVE Ann Arbor Police 3/24/2014 08:52 AM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140017063 S INDUSTRIAL HWY&ASTOR AVE Ann Arbor Police 4/11/2014 11:06 PM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140021527 3300 BLOCK WASHTENAW AVE Ann Arbor Police 5/5/2014 07:42 AM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140013906 2600 BLOCK PLYMOUTH RD Ann Arbor Police 3/27/2014 09:56 AM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140024842 1200 BLOCK S UNIVERSITY AVE Ann Arbor Police 5/22/2014 10:02 AM
SYNTHETIC NARCOTIC -POSSESS 140023167 2500 BLOCK N MAPLE RD Ann Arbor Police 5/13/2014 10:30 AM