Pacific Northwest’s Infrastructure Crisis: Vandalism Surges Under Liberal Policies

Junkies have been stealing copper forever, the only way to keep that from happening is cracking down on the “buyers” of the copper, like recycling centers requiring licensed electricians to sell their left over copper from a job.

They want to get rid of POTs line regular telephone. So they allow thief's to do it for them.

Alot of high tech jobs also sparks disconnect with people, not just politics

Copper wiring isn't nearly as lucrative as copper pipes in abandoned houses.

Our company had 8 hvac systems ruined for the copper twice in a year .

Same problem here in Tucson.

I used to splice copper wire for centurylink as a contractor. Those cables are insulated first with that black outside, then a razor sharp metal shielding inside that, along with super gunky gel we called "icky pick" THEN; each individual copper wire is insulated on top of that. The amount of work these addicts have to do for merely $20 along with the destruction they cause to peoples utilities is insane. The damage they cost far outweighs the money they get from recycling these lines.

I thought that this only happened in South Africa.

I live on the other side of the state. We can't figure out what's wrong with the puget sound.

King county sucks but not as bad as Clallam county and Jefferson county, still, King county is still one of the worst counties in the state.

thats why i quit partying lmao

Sheriffs PS commercials???
They should be doing PS to RECALL THE MAYOR

USA is on FIBER
ANY copper is BURIED
Lib counties are still in the 1980s

I have to unsubscribe because you’re a hypocrite for still living there and condoning what’s going on. Probably even voted for it. Only criminal and pro criminal voters still live in defunded lawless democrat locations. I don’t listen nor like either. Have a blessed life.

Same in South Africa😅

Awareness buys time, time buys options - until it doesn't. It's just a matter of time.

This is what happens when your state is governed by idiots

The wealth/ class system breeds crime.

Seattle, another city of losers.

Considering the threat to "the grid," could these thefts be considered national security threats, subject to federal Homeland Defense prosecutions? Could this be another way for the Trump administration to cause angst and bother to the Ferguson administration?

Sad, Washington is a wreck because of corruption and clueless voters.

It's considered property crime and if they are caught they are held just a couple of days then they are back out there again doing the same thing. From my experience King county is the worst followed by Pierce then Mason Counties. I've learned to hate King County because of the thefts. I've been in the telecommunications field for 24 years and in the last 4 years the theft and vadalisim has gotten worse in King County with each passing week.

Who cares, Washington state is dump anyway

This is happening in California as well. My bedridden 95 year old mother lost her landline due to the theft of copper wire. Her phone went down October 9th and by November 15th, ATT was still saying we are working on it. She received another bill after paying her bill for Nov 5th. I was incensed. I called billing and they said bills are generated automatically. I'm like based on what, there's no service.

Someone at ATT finally told me that they were switching over to fiber optics and the bill would be 80 per month. I told them to discontinue service. My mother's bill would have been 100 per month with all the taxes and fees that they add.

Central/south americans or usual suspects?

This reporter is a idiot,doesn't have facts right,and is coming from someone who knows nothing about scraping,being sarcastic he thinks he's cute. IDIOT😊

This is what happens when you Vote Democrat. King County Suffers because of their Own Stupidity. DON'T CARE.

PSA to the People WHO SOLVE the Crimes FOR the Police. NICE. What a Bunch of CLOWNS in KING County.

offer rewards for snitching

The scrap yard pays over $4 a pound for copper don't you love the blue cities on how they do not prosecute anybody😂😂😂 keep it up blue cities

That guy's full of crap saying 30 cents a pound they be a whole lot more than that

Vote for another DemonRat, oh thats what you were going to do OK .

What doesn't happen and is allowed in our state of Washington, especially my hometown area of Tacoma and Seattle. There is no justice and law anymore. Go back to our days when things were so much more safer and justice was served. You do the crime do the time. Simple as that

They get plenty of income, put on soc security, free handouts , especially to the younger generation. In our day if u were fighting addictions u were forced to deal with them if u were bi- polar u worked.

Trash blue states

Just keep voting for liberal Demoncrats.

Just shop lift it's easier and seems to be legal

What, are you saying that refusing to prosecute criminals is causing more crime? Who ever could have seen that coming.

I was working at the Lowes in Renton, Wa a few years ago. The outdoor garden center had its copper piping stolen.

How? They hired a new company to fix/update the piping after a particularly cold winter, they removed all the copper piping and replaced a highly used, extremely high pressure water system with PVC piping.

When I spoke with the regular plumbing company about it, they told me maybe two of those pipes needed replacing, but not the whole system. It became clear the new company stole all the piping. But due to the fact its a large corporation, the thieves were left alone and no one thought to ask why they were replacing an entire system that just been recently redone.

The piping began breaking within 2wks of the garden season. While the thieves made off with more than 10s of 1000s of $$.

Democrats utopia! lol

The police won't even respond. Instead, they will send you a weird text asking you to make a report online, when you're just being a good Samaritan. Makes it not worth the call

Has anyone put thought into what happens when the border gets shut down, & all these tweakers cant get their fix? Its gonna get bad.

King county liberal: Drugs are now cheap, yay!

At least it's been recycled.

Don’t worry, we are focusing on fixing the root of crime! Things will get better for sure in about 50 years! Have some faith!

I thought communications were space based. How could this be.

Give homeless people more cash

Just shut down the recycling centers

And on top of this, "Jack Ass Jay Inslee wants to "Borrow" (read ROB) from the pension system for the Police and Fire Fighters to pay for the state's budget deficit.