In Josephine County, where crime is rising and law enforcement funding is declining, thieves and vandals stole or destroyed more than $100,000 of maintenance equipment at ODOT facilities in Grants Pass, Hugo and Cave Junction.
At ODOT’s Grants Pass maintenance yard, thieves and vandals have cut the property fences several times. Intruders stole a gas-powered generator, smashed windshields and side windows, and slashed fuel hoses and truck tires.
Josephine County thefts, vandalism target ODOT maintenance yards
At ODOT’s Hugo yard, criminals preyed on a utility truck used by the agency’s electric crew, stealing the battery, electrical tools (many employee-owned) and We’ve probably cutting the truck’s ODOT reported each fuel line. Two trailhad $125,000 incident of theft and ers, one owned by a worth of items vandalism to law contractor working stolen or broken. enforcement officials on the Interstate 5 in Josephine County. truck climbing lane — Grants Pass Maintenance ODOT took additional project, were burglarManager Shawn Stephens steps to secure equipized as well. Thieves also ment and buildings but grabbed a portable mesthe criminal activity has grown sage board and backhoe along over the past twelve months. Since I-5 near Hugo. last summer, ODOT maintenance facilities in Grants Pass, Hugo and Cave “There isn’t a single piece of equipment regardless of its size that hasn’t Junction have all been broken into and been targeted in Josephine County,” vandalized on multiple occasions. said Stephens. “We had a 500-foot “We’ve experienced more than section of guardrail stolen from a $100,000 of items stolen or broken frontage road in Sunny Valley. That since last summer,” said Stephens. cost about $50,000 to replace. “That’s money that we won’t be able “We’ve tried to make it harder for to invest on the highways. We’re forced to redirect funds to replace or thieves. We bent the bolts on the guardrail but the thieves just threw a fix the buildings, tools and vehicles chain around the posts and pulled the our crews rely upon to keep the whole thing out.” roads safe.” “Oregonians should be upset about this situation because their tax dollars fund these facilities,” said ODOT Grants Pass Maintenance Manager Shawn Stephens.
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odotmovingahead.com
April 5, 2013
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