Thieves steal $75K worth of outdoor tools from Detroit Rescue Mission

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An overnight break-in at Detroit Rescue Mission ministries.

The thief stole a trailer containing nearly $75,000 worth of equipment at the corner of Stimson and Cass in downtown Detroit.

This incident happened at 1:55 a.m. on Friday, a man is caught on camera breaking the lock on the gate. Ten minutes later, a driver in a pickup truck comes into the parking lot.

The two connected their vehicle to a trailer carrying landscaping and training equipment. Then, they roll out driving south on Cass.

The loss with the trailer included, is at about $90,000.

"(The tools are) so we can train returning citizens and people who are fighting homelessness," said Chad Audi, DRMM president. "We started a new program for them about three years so we can teach them to do landscaping and some other things."

The suspect tried to come back at 3:48 a.m., and he tried to steal another lawnmower, but not luck because it was locked with a chain.

There are a number of cameras at the location, and there is plenty of footage.

At the same time, the president of the rescue mission says he has another issue - claiming when he called Detroit police about what happened, he was told it would take about three or four days for an officer to come here and investigate the matter.

"An operator took the call," Audi said. "They asked us for more information such as license plate, everything and description. We gave them everything. (We got) no excuse other than we won't be able to send a detective three to four days to look into it."

FOX 2 contacted Detroit police and they are responding to the error.

"I researched that call for service, the only record on that is telephone crime reporting officer's," said Cmdr. Nicholas Giaquinto, 3rd Precinct. "To me that indicated the call either that the call went directly to telephone crime reporting or it was transferred.

"The information that it would take several days, I cannot explain where that information came from."

Giaquinto said the police have been at the location, and taken the footage for their investigation.

Chad Audi hopes everyone can keep an eye out for this trailer and who may have driving it.

That will be key in catching the bad guys.

"This is a very big marked truck, or trailer," Audi said. "Any cameras in the city can look at it. In three to four days, they will probably be all gone, and (if we don't) recover them, that's a big loss."