Police Recover Dozens Of Stolen Street Signs

By Andrew Gorosko

Acting on details provided by an informant, police have seized several dozen street-name signs at a local residence, which allegedly had been stolen by a teenager from street intersections during the past several months.

The purloined green-and-white signs were stolen from places across town, including Cricket Trail, High Rock Road, Great Ring Road, Chipmunk Trail, Chimney Swift Road, and Poverty Hollow Road, among dozens of others.

Police declined to provide specifics about the circumstances of their investigation into the thefts, which are believed to represent several thousand dollars’ worth of stolen municipal property. Police declined to name the suspect or suspects in the case, explaining that they are in the process of seeking an arrest warrant or warrants in the case.

Most of the recovered items are street-name signs that typically are posted at intersections. Other items include stolen traffic cones, a traffic barrel, and a crosswalk sign. Police seized the items last week.

Police Captain Joe Rios said this week that the theft of street-name signs poses a threat to local public safety.

With street-name signs missing, it may not be apparent to police, fire, and ambulance staffers where certain streets are located when they are responding to emergency calls, he said. That could mean that time is lost in arriving at emergencies, he noted.

The town has gotten many new streets during the past several years, whose locations may not be familiar to emergency service workers, he added.

“It creates a public safety issue,” Capt Rios said.

The town highway department is kept busy replacing stolen signs after their absence is noted, he said.

When an arrest or arrests in the sign theft case are eventually made, charges may include larceny and criminal mischief.