FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2014
MEDIA CONTACTS
Gwen Schuler, Media and Communications, gschuler@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5160
Carrie McCausland, Media and Communications, cmccausland@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-2005
Residents Asked to Recognize and Report Streetlight Wire Thefts
Streetlight copper wire thefts are a problem across Tacoma and the nation. In the first ten months of 2013, the City of Tacoma and its citizens were the victims of 11 streetlight copper wire thefts. In the final two months of 2013, Tacoma was victimized 56 additional times. There have been 24 thefts so far in 2014.
With more than 30,000 streetlight and junction boxes, Tacoma staff say they need residents to be watchful and learn to recognize and report the crime.
“Many times the crime happens in broad daylight. A thief may drop something, such as a bicycle or construction cones over a junction box to hide their activity,” says Tacoma Police Department Detective Burt Hayes. “The criminal may cut the wires to break electrification during the day to ensure darkness and then return to steal the wire later, either by hand or by pulling it out with vehicle or bicycle and stuffing it in a backpack.”
Hayes says that criminals may use official-looking white vans and orange construction vests to avoid suspicion. Legitimate streetlight crews will generally be in large bucket trucks, marked with official City, utility or other logos.
Residents who see a theft in progress should call 911; a visual description can be very helpful.
Since December, City crews have been unable to keep up with the increased rate of needed repairs. Ten streetlight locations remain without power. Yet, an agreement with Tacoma Public Utilities has helped decrease the wait times.Initially, city crews estimated repairs to current locations would extend into fall. Now crews expect to have all of the current areas in need of repair fixed by the end of May. The work comes with a price – the City estimates having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the 45 streetlight wire theft repairs completed this year.
Residents who need to report a new streetlight outage due to theft, or otherwise, should call 311.The City has also created a new interactive tracking system, available at cityoftacoma.org/wiretheft, that helps residents determine whether a location has already been reported and get estimated repair times.
When a theft is reported, the Public Works Department’s top priority is to make the site safe.If Street Operations crews can quickly fix the problem during the initial public safety inspection, they do so. Otherwise, priority is given to locations with high pedestrian or vehicle use, followed by when the outage was reported. As some repairs can be complicated, City staff ask residents to please be patient as they attempt to get streetlights operating again. Yet, they believe that with residents’ help criminals will be less successful at stealing Tacomans’ property and causing these disruptions in the first place.
To learn more, visit cityoftacoma.org/wiretheft.
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