A staff sergeant with the Sarnia Police Service says the theft of copper and fibre optic cable continues to be a problem in the city.
Ivan Skinn said there were numerous occurrences in 2024.
"We're constantly seeing thefts of copper wires, specifically a lot of Bell sites are getting hit, also Hydro One sites," Skinn said. "The copper wire is obviously a commodity and it gets traded into scrap metal dealers and the thieves get money for it."
Earlier this month, on December 6, officers were called to the west side of Perch Creek, after a telephone pole was cut down -- it's suspected with a chainsaw -- and the copper and fiber optic cables were stolen off of it.
Skinn admits that case was extreme.
"We hadn't seen a case where a telephone pole had been cut down before, but we've had lots of instances where they're breaking into hydro sites -- cutting through fences. These thieves don't really care about what damage they do to the property in order to get the wire," he said.
Damage was estimated to exceed $15,000 in that investigation.
"Sometimes when they're going after the Bell wire, they're also putting people's telephone service out of commission. Just to steal a few hundred dollars worth of copper wire," Skinn said.
He said if you see something, it's encouraged to say something.
"Typically Bell employees, or Hydro One employees, are readily identifiable. If you see somebody working on these installations that doesn't appear to be an employee of the company... then call us and we will definitely attend and check them out," he said.
Skinn has these tips for home and business owners.
"Lighting, cameras... All of that stuff helps. A lot of installations do have monitoring equipment that alerts us when somebody enters their property. By all means install that stuff and then if there is a theft occurring we can be brought in to catch the people in the act," he said.
Skinn also encouraged local scrap metal dealers to be vigilant and report suspicious activities.
The December 6 investigation was highlighted as a Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week earlier this month.
Anyone with information about who may be responsible for these crimes, is asked to call Sarnia-Lambton Crime Stoppers or visit p3tips.com to submit tips online.