Copper Thieves Hitting Fort Worth Streetlights
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Fort Worth is looking for the public's help to stop a copper theft problem that has cost taxpayers more than $100,000 this year alone.
Thieves are stealing copper wire from streetlight poles at such an unprecedented pace that four city workers are dedicated to doing nothing but fixing the damage they leave behind.
The money for repairs is being drained from a fund for general street light maintenance, and department supervisor Mark Mathis said it could lead to delayed repairs and replacements in some neighborhoods. "We may be going with dark streets for weeks, rather than days, because we're trying to keep up with all this damage," he said.
The city has started installing large blue signs in some problem spots. They advertise wire theft is a crime, and urge people to call 9-1-1 is they see anything suspicious.
City officials suspect that some thieves are wearing hard hats and reflective vests, appearing to be utility crews, and residents are ignoring a crime happening right in front of them. "You see some guys out there in vests, hard hats, don't really look like they know what they're doing on the side of the road, I'd appreciate you call 911," Mathis said.
They're even reaching out to thieves themselves, posting stickers on light poles where copper wire has been replaced with less valuable aluminum wire. Crews have become bogged down with repairs where thieves cut the wires, only to find they're aluminum, and leave the loose ends hanging there.
Virgil Cobb and his crew found one of those poles in east Fort Worth Thursday. It was a spot he had already fixed twice before. "We have lights all over Fort Worth that's out but instead of helping out the citizens and neighborhoods, we're out here, putting stuff back together, that makes no sense," Cobb said.
On some poles, work crews are now welding access panels shut, or moving access to the top of poles where only a bucket truck can be used to reach them.
