AED Stolen
 

Every so often we humans have an event occur that reminds us we here in the Villages do not live in a perfect world. I live in a neighborhood of 63 homes that form a cul de sac. Two years ago our neighbors developed a Automatic Emergency Defibrillator ( AED) program and purchased two AED's. trained 20 First Responders. The AED's were mounted in specially designed locked boxes, mounted on a post in concrete, and directly under a street light. Sadly two night ago a thief cut off the lock and stole one of our AED's. We are very upset that someone would steal a device solely designed to save lives. The cost to the neighborhood for this AED was $1600 and we are at a loss what the value would be to a thief.

That's terrible and one can only hope that the low life that took it is caught and is brought to justice.

They sell for several hundred on Ebay. Unfortunately.

Also happened in our Villas neighborhood last year. Lock cut and AED stolen.
That one lasted about 6 months.

There is NO justice for someone who would do something so low.

The world is full of low life. The exist in every country and every location. Lawyers make a great living defending them.

OK, our neighborhood is looking into installing these same devices, I guess we are going to install cameras also.........

response time here in the villages is so good i'm not sure this program is worth the effort ,time and expense.

I'm sorry this happened to your neighborhood. We have 5 installed in our neighborhood - I never really thought what you experienced would happen. That's a pretty sad commentary.

As a Coordinator of an AED Program with soon to be 8 AED's, here is the email sent out to coordinators just today. Hope this helps others.


Hello,
To help keep the AED’s secure, I am asking you do the following:
1. If your lock is not a hardened lock, please purchase a new lock that is hardened similar to the attached picture. I know this will cost some money for the lock and extra keys. Hopefully you have some money in your AED account to cover the cost.
2. Purchase a “paint pen” and mark your machine and box with your group name. Put the telephone number for the fire department on both the machine and box.
3. I have started marking new machines like a “billboard” for identification.
40DPF - Master #40 Stainless Steel Discus Padlock with Hardened Steel ShackleI am not endorsing this brand of lock. This style of lock is very hard to cut.
Locks are available on Amazon and are prime eligible J. [ame]http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=master+lock+%2340[/ame]



Thank you for your participation in the AED groups of The Villages. It is a pleasure working with you.

John

Lt. John Longacre, B.S. EMT-P
Emergency Resource Specialist

The Villages Public Safety Department
3035 South Morse Blvd
The Villages, FL 32163
John.longacre@districtgov.org
352-205-8280 ext. 2910

Aren't they numbered where they could be identified as stolen?

Jane is there a way to get this message out to all the neighborhood leaders where AEDs are installed? This is important for all to see.

It was sent out to all AED Program Coordinators already, that's why I got it!

The Villages Public Safety Department would disagree with you 100%. They support and assist with setting up the AED programs and if asked would quickly tell you that several lives have already been saved because of neighborhood AED programs.

Hi John, I appreciate your comments. We thought we had done everything possible to prevent anyone from stealing our AED's. We had those locks, hardened steel by Master Lock and also were the weather type. The locked container was purchased thru the Public Safety Department. We have identification data on the cases but I am not sure that would prevent theft because the information would not be seen until after the AED was opened. It might it more difficult to sell the AED. It is going to be difficult for our small neighborhood to generate the funding to replace our stolen AED.

:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow: EXACTLY:mademyday:

I'm Angry!
 

I wonder if we could check for sales on Ebay and catch this thief? :boxing2:

wow that's low

.

I did that exact thing and recovered a set of my very expensive hub caps.
He did jail time.

This is so far off base!

If the paramedic squads are already out on a call, they can't just leave instantly to get to the patient in need of resuscitation as fast as a neighbor next door, across the street, or down the block 4-5 doors can. Our neighborhood has the AED program and the trained neighbor responders arrived, with the AED in hand, in 2 minutes in trial runs.

I had to replace classic car hubcaps on eBay, but they came from out of state. Darn thieves, the car was in a hospital ER parking lot on Long Island.

If I am not mistaken isn't there a serial number on the unit? Could this be used to recover it?

I have noticed in my neighborhood that the one closest to me is right up against someones home, not in the culdsac . Could this help prevent a thief from stealing it?

I just saw a lock on line that the shackles were shielded on the pad lock. Makes it almost impossible to get bolt cutter on the shackle. Just trying to help.

yes, they have a serial number, but this does you no good if you never find the aed.

i don't exactly know the mindset of a thief. Our aed that was stolen was in front of no less than six homes at the culdesac and was intentionally adjacent to a very bright street light.

I AM WATCHING E BAY AND craigslist DAILY.

Is there a way to permanently mark these devices so that they cannot be easily resold?

Can they be set some where with an alarm system and photo of whomever takes it?

Let's think solutions and stop this and protect our beautiful community from those few who think we are easy targets. We are not! We have a lifetime of experience.

We all agree this is a great program. There are two AED units in my neighborhood and we have the trained first responders.

As for theft, I never thought of that when the AED program was brought out to our neighborhood. Outside of the boxes having the hardened steel locks, I can't think of anything else.

A thief would still steal it even if there were some indelible marking on it saying it was NOT TO BE RESOLD or STOLEN PROPERTY. The thief would not be looking for writing as he was stealing and would probably just junk it after seeing the marking - but it would still be gone from the neighborhood.

Is there any insurance policy that the neighborhood group could purchase that would cover the AED's? It would certainly be cheaper than buying new units - if available.

Just asking, did the locks used have shielded shackles?

Nice to see the expression of a rational perspective rather than the emotion that fuels so many posters on TOTV. Is anyone really surprised that placing hundreds of $1500 electronic devices in plain sight would attract thieves?

Nice mockery of rational people who know the paramedic-fire squads are often already out on a call, and can't just leave in the middle of another patient's or accident victims' emergency!

For those who are willing to think about the value of having trained neighbor responders with AEDs to bring and use in 2-3 minutes, GPS trackers can be placed in the units and I think it's been done by some neighborhoods.

That many neighborhoods are willing to undertake the expense, training, and, apparently, the risk to set up a program that gives their friends and neighbors a better chance of surviving sudden cardiac events is part of what makes this community great. Someone posted on the thread about Morse "what is a life worth?". That's how my neighborhood feels about our AED program. As posted above, you never know when the paramedics may be out on another call, especially this time of year when the population peaks. Minutes count.

And remember, it will be there for you, should you need it.

At 1:55 PM today, I was alerted by ReadyAlert, who handles notifying our AED group, of a cardiac/respiratory arrest in our neighborhood. My wife and I grabbed the AED and raced in our cart to the address. I was first on the scene. An occupant of the home was on the phone with the 911 operator. I evaluated the victim and the paramedics arrived about 4-5 minutes after I did.

Fortunately, it was not cardiac arrest and the AED was not needed. The patient was transported to the hospital. But if it had been cardiac arrest, having the AED there so quickly would have improved the chances of survival greatly.

You'll never convince me the program is superfluous and unnecessary.

GPS tracker is an excellent idea - not only would it recover the equipment it would catch the thief.

Hi gap, we thought we had done nearly everything possible but how wrong we were. I have discussed our stolen AED with a lot of people and so far most don't think there is much of a market for stolen AED's. In our case, any alarms or cameras would have to be battery operated and becomes a problem in itself. I am not certain this particular thief had the intelligence to know what he was stealing probably was of no value to him.

We did not have the shielded locks. We have purchased shielded locks for our remaining AED and the one that will be purchased as a replacement. We thought our best deterrent was having the AED's located directly under a streetlight.

We aren't talking TV or computers here. It was a defibrillator used to start a victims heart. It would be extremely difficult to sell a used AED. I question the intelligence of a thief who steals a device that he cannot use or that he probably cannot sell.

I applaud you and your wife. While I don't hope for "that" alert, I am excited about the possibility of saving someone's life. I hope those persons less excited about AED programs, read your comments.

A lesson to be learn, locks are made for honest people! The idea of a GPS is a good idea BUT they can be removed and thrown away. Criminals will stay one step ahead or at least try to. When you put out a piece of equipment that can be stolen and sold, IT WILL BE. We have open paths into the villages and crime will happen if there is a profit in it. Ideas need to be discussed and solutions will have to be put in place, again locks are made for honest people.