Vancouver police seek tips in hunt for thieves who cut, steal live wires
VANCOUVER Metal thieves are stealing live trolley wires in Vancouver, and authorities say they are endangering lives.
Crime Stoppers and Transit police are seeking tips leading to the arrest of those cutting and stealing live 600-volt elevated copper trolley wires used by the Coast Mountain Bus Company to power transit buses.
In one case, the thieves left dangling live wires that were so close to the ground a child could have grabbed one.
The crime usually happens at night, and police say the thieves might appear to be legitimate utility workers using sophisticated equipment.
Anne Drennan, a spokeswoman for the Transit police, says on Jan. 13, trolley wires were cut near Blanca Street and West 7th Avenue in Vancouver. The thieves left live wires dangling just a few feet above a sidewalk.
Two teenagers spotted the downed wires while heading home and called authorities.
Drennan says the wires carry 600 volts of electricity and a person would likely die if they came in contact with the live wires.
“We are so lucky that those teenagers didn’t approach it,” she said, adding a young a child could have run up and grabbed the wire it was so low to the ground. “If that had happened it would have been over.”
What the thieves did was “incredibly irresponsible,” said Drennan.
Authorities say the incidents usually happen in quiet residential areas and so there is not a lot of security footage for police to review. She says police believe the thieves are using sophisticated tools, and know how to steal the wire without being electrocuted.
Although there’s no evidence yet, they suspect some may be using cherry pickers to get at the wires.
Police are hoping that someone coming home late at night from work may have seen someone dragging the heavy metal to a vehicle, or anything else suspicious.
The incident was one of almost two dozen trolley wire thefts in Vancouver over the past two years.
Each incident is potentially deadly, can create lengthy service delays, and incur replacement costs of up to $50,000, according to a Crime Stoppers release.