Ferndale Water Meter Tampering Won’t Affect Bills, Suspect at Large
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Oct. 24, 2016)
Ferndale, MI – Police are asking for tips in a mysterious malicious destruction of property case. From September 18th through October 3rd, on various dates and times, 54 water meters attached to homes and businesses throughout the City of Ferndale were attacked. An unknown person or person cut the wires to water meters so that the electronic recording for use was disabled, according to police.
The meters are small gray boxes on the outside of homes and businesses.
DPW Director Lloyd Cureton said the damage does not stop the city’s ability to track or bill for water usage. “The water meter reading system the City uses reads every account hourly and sends updates back to the water department five times daily,” he said. “Each morning the system is checked by staff. If a water meter stops sending reads an alert is reported by the system and a service technician is sent out to make repairs.
“In this particular case the repair work will take and estimated 8-9 hours. This will not affect the resident’s water bill, as the damage was to wires that send a signal to the transmitter. The meter is housed indoors and was not tampered with. The water meter will continue to measure and collect reads accurately.”
Anybody with information as to who may be damaging these meters is asked to phone either the Ferndale Police (248-541-3650) or CRIMESTOPPERS where they can make an anonymous tip and be eligible for a reward if their information leads to an arrest.