The theft of copper from power lines in rural parts of Northwest Arkansas is on the rise. Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis spoke with Megan Krtek to learn more about the problem. Krtek is senior PR and communications manager for Kinetic, a residential and business high-speed broadband service provider. She says copper thieves have been striking powerlines more frequently.
Megan Krtek: So over the last month, we have seen a significant spike in copper theft across Northwest Arkansas. It's predominantly happening in Washington, Carroll and Madison counties, and the towns that continue to get hit, there's several of them. So there is Berryville, Elkins, Rudd, St. Paul and Drakes Creek. These communities, we've had probably more than 20 thefts over the last month, and it just seems like they continue to increase rather than decrease.
We actually just had a theft as recent as yesterday in Berryville. We are just trying to create some awareness for what's going on within the community and encourage residents to see something, say something.
So if you see any weird or suspicious activity that just doesn't look normal to you, please reach out to your local police, state police, or we also have a 1-800 number at Kinetic that's toll-free that they can call to report activity as well.
Travis: And what should people be looking out for? Suspicious activity near power lines?
Krtek: Yeah. Most copper lines are aerial. They hang from the utility poles that you'll see out in your community.
Keep an eye out. Most of these thefts are happening pretty much in the middle of the night so that they can operate under cover of darkness. A lot of times people aren't around, but if you do see anybody climbing a utility pole or trying to cut the utility pole in half or pushing it over, or if anybody's working or looking like they're working on these utility lines without a Kinetic polo on or another utility company shirt on, that's a pretty good indicator that that's probably suspicious activity.
Also look for all of the proper roadwork signs that say people are at work, or look for trucks that have Kinetic branding on them. If they're coming out of an unmarked vehicle, that's also a good indicator.
Travis: OK. Why is this important, and why should people be concerned about this?
Krtek: It's really a public safety issue. Copper theft is not a victimless crime. When a thief cuts the line, that results in dangerous outages for our customers. It also threatens their ability to access emergency and critical services like 911, the police, healthcare facilities.
It really cuts off their access to the outside world, especially in these rural communities that are already hard to serve with connectivity to begin with.
For anybody that's trying to reach anybody in these communities that have lost their voice and internet, they're not able to get in touch with their loved ones. So it's really just a public safety issue.
At the end of the day, the value of copper, if a thief takes it and tries to resell it, just doesn't outweigh the amount of damage that can come from these thefts.
Travis: So that's why they're taking it, just to sell this material?
Krtek: Yes.
We believe the price of copper has risen. This has been an ongoing issue for many years, but we have seen a spike in copper theft across the country, especially in the last couple of years. It just seems like it's getting worse and worse. We're seeing it far more often in our markets.
But it's not just our company that's experiencing it. It's happening across the board.
Travis: Besides community endeavors, what are y'all doing to curb this?
Krtek: We are taking a really aggressive approach to combating copper theft. It's two-pronged.
Not only are we working with local- and state-level authorities and lawmakers to try to create some stricter legislation. Arkansas has already taken really great steps to combat this from a legislative perspective.
We're working with local authorities and lawmakers, and then we are also implementing some technology on our side. Basically, we've got GPS trackers, we've got some night-vision cameras, and we're doing some other things that we're not going to release to the public because we don't want the thieves to know.
So we're trying to attack it from two different levels.
Travis: Do you want to reiterate how people can get in contact with the proper authorities if they do see something strange or unusual around power lines?
Krtek: Yeah. If you see anything out in your community that just doesn't feel right or doesn't look right, you can reach out to your local police. You can reach out to your state police, or you can call Kinetic toll-free at 855-268-2211, option 1.
You can reach us directly to report any suspicious activity or anything that looks out of the ordinary.
We're also offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of these thieves.
I think that's pretty much it. I would also argue Kinetic is replacing our copper network with fiber. We're about 50% of the way done, but it's still going to take a few more years to complete that across the country.
We do know that thieves are still cutting fiber lines. Fiber is not valuable at all, but the thieves aren't able to tell the difference between a fiber line and a copper line. So we're also trying to educate on that as well.
Travis: And I just wanted to harp on any potential thieves out there. This sounds really dangerous. This sounds like a great way to get yourself electrocuted.
Krtek: Yes, absolutely. Not only are you looking at jail time, but you can cut the wrong wire. You can fall off the pole. There are several ways that you can injure yourself or harm yourself. So it's just not worth the risk at the end of the day.
Travis: All right. Megan, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. We'll hopefully put a stop to this. This is crazy. These communities, they need internet connection. They need phone connection.
Krtek: Yeah, absolutely. Reliable connectivity is vital in today's world. So thank you so much for helping us spread awareness. I really appreciate it.
Megan Krtek is senior PR and communications manager for Kinetic, a residential and business high-speed broadband service provider. She spoke with Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis yesterday. She said Kinetic is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of a copper thief.
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