Thieves have knocked out telephone service to neighborhoods on St. Croix four times in recent weeks, actually climbing utility poles to cut the wire down, and the company and law enforcement are planning to do something about it.
Naturally they declined to specify exactly what they intend to do, so that they don’t give their plans to the malefactors.
Innovative public relations manager Willa Fils said Tuesday that the company has been holding internal meetings to decide on its course of action. Law enforcement officials have also been consulted.
V.I. Police Department Public Information Officer Melody Rames said the department is aware but said she couldn’t talk about specific steps they are taking because they don’t want to tip off the criminals.
Rames said the theft of copper phones wire is "a serious problem all over the world, not just in the Virgin Islands."
Fils also pointed out that interfering with communications equipment is a federal offense and said federal authorities have also been contacted.
The thieves are taking the risk because the price of copper on the metals market has gone way up in recent years, making the chance of grabbing the wrong wire worth the risk. But the thieves seem to have some experience, Fils said.
"Obviously the people who are doing this know what they’re doing," she said.
Starting in mid-July, thieves struck four times. The damage goes beyond the inconvenience to a small group of phone users in scattered neighborhoods. Innovative has not tabulated the cost of the damages yet, but Fils pointed out it’s more than just the cost of the wire. Every time the thieves strike work crews have to be pulled off of other jobs.
"It’s not just the copper wire. It’s the manpower, the overtime," she said. "Pulling our linemen and splitters of their jobs, it’s a big expense."
Innovative has already replaced much of its copper phone wire and coaxial television cable with a single line of hybrid fiber coaxial cable, which will provide all voice, high-speed data and video products. When the conversion is complete, the copper that tempts thieves up the poles will be gone.
In the meantime, the company is working on a plan to catch the thieves the next time they strike. But they’re not talking.
