Investigators: Cell Phone Tower Thieves Sending Bad Signal
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Investigators: Cell Phone Tower Thieves Sending...
Edgefield investigators say they're dealing with thieves who are targeting cell phone towers. Officers say thieves are stealing copper ground wiring, which helps protect the towers from the effects...
Edgefield investigators say they’re dealing with thieves who are targeting cell phone towers. Officers say thieves are stealing copper ground wiring, which helps protect the towers from the effects of lighting. Cell phone officials say if the tower is unprotected and struck by lightning, it could knock out. WJBF News Channel 6’s Joy Howe explains how this could cost you.
Published: January 5, 2009
Updated: January 5, 2009
Edgefield, SC—AT&T, Verizon, and Alltel towers along Highway 25 in Edgefield have all been hit.
Cpl. Robbie Harder, Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office: “We feel like it’s probably somebody that knows what they’re doing. Some of these sites are high voltage.”
Investigators say someone cut the locks at these towers, then cut copper wiring that runs down and around the tower itself.
The copper ground wire acts as a lightning protector for the towers. When lightning strikes, it travels through the copper, into the ground, rather than frying to electronics inside.
Without that protection, the towers, if hit, could be knocked out—which means no bars for cell phone users:
Drew Giblin, AT&T: “This is a very important problem and we really can’t have folks dismantling this because it prevents all calls if that cell tower goes down which is very likely should it be struck by lightning, without the protection of our copper wiring system, which otherwise functions very well.“
Investigators say the thieves won’t get that much for the copper they’re stealing, maybe between $50 and $100.
But the damage to repair the ground wiring costs about $5,000 per tower, and, if cell phone service were to get knocked out, the cost could be much greater, especially if someone is unable to make an emergency 911 call.
Giblin: “That would be our number one concern in regards to the community. It’s always a problem if service is disrupted for any reason, but particularly for emergency response reasons.”
AT&T officials say that’s why they’re working closely with investigators to track down the thieves:
Cpl. Harder: “One of the problems we’re having is these cell towers are in remote areas of the county, so we’re trying to step up patrols.“
...And send a clear signal that this won’t be tolerated.
Cell phone officials say this type of copper wiring theft is nothing new. They say it’s happened before in different parts of the country, and has prompted many cell phone companies to begin placing tracking numbers on some of the towers’ copper parts.
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