Posted:
February 19, 2008
Editor’s note: The following story by Stan Finger is excerpted from the Feb. 12 edition of the Wichita Eagle.
Two more copper thefts discovered within the past few
days prompted police in Wichita, Kansas to issue an uncommon plea to the
public:
“We need the public to be alert to this issue,” Capt. Darrell Haynes said. “That’s the only way we’re going to be making headway on this.
“Unless you’re a Westar crew with a Westar truck, we should be talking to you, and find out who you are and what you are doing.”
Westar Energy officials learned Friday that thieves had cut into the perimeter fence of a substation at 2901 W. 21st St. and taken what a report called “a major quantity” of braided copper wire that served as a ground for the fence.
It cost about $5,000 to replace the stolen material and make repairs, said Marc Anderson, a Wichita-based manager for Westar.
It was the second theft at that substation in the past several weeks, Westar officials said. The last one was in December and also resulted in losses and damage of about $5,000.
City officials on Friday discovered that someone stole 3,600 feet of copper wire from light poles at the parking lot next to Seneca west of the Mid-America All-Indian Center, Haynes said.
The crime apparently occurred sometime between Feb. 1 and 5. The scrap value of the wire is an estimated $10,800, Haynes said, but it will cost at least $25,000 to repair the damage.
Haynes said he recognizes the department’s plea may result in police talking to a lot of utility crews doing legitimate work.
“That’s not a problem,” he said.
It’s a necessary step, he said, considering that damage caused by copper thieves in recent weeks is nearing $100,000.
Police have evidence to indicate the thieves are posing as utility crews in hard hats and perhaps even coats or jackets with a company name on them, Haynes said.
Anderson said the theft at the Westar substation indicates the thieves know something about power distribution.
“He knows where to stop to avoid electrocution,” Anderson said. “If they went much further than they did with the 21st Street substation, they wouldn’t be alive anymore.”
The substation has been repaired, he said, and Westar officials are looking into installing motion detection equipment and video cameras at each of its more than 20 substations in the Wichita metropolitan area.
“It’s not only us,” Anderson said. “Virtually every electric utility across the country is experiencing the same thing.”