By Georgie Hanafin
CCTV footage of alleged cooper wire thieves. Photo: NZ Police / Supplied
Copper wire thieves are wearing hi-vis vests to look like legitimate lines workers in Christchurch, as repeated vandalism costs city businesses thousands.
Police are stepping up their hunt for thieves who cut power to more than 20 households two nights in a row, tampering with lines in their quest for copper wire for sale.
In one case, CCTV shows two men using a shopping trolley to cart off their haul in Disraeli Street in Addington, with the noise of a grinder in the background.
Police have charged seven people with stealing copper wire from power lines near schools, preschools and residential streets.
Senior sergeant Roy Appley said copper thieves operated in groups and potentially posed as legitimate workers, all while putting themselves and the public in great danger.
Senior sergeant Roy Appley. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"Some of the offenders are wearing high visibility vests and may look legitimate in what they're doing," he said.
"Orion will only operate in an area once they have fully coned it off, they are always wearing marked visibility vests and will be operating with all the right equipment."
Police were working with community patrols in areas they suspected could be targets, but anyone who saw suspicious behaviour around power lines should call 111, Appley said.
In March, Appley told RNZ the copper wire pay-off was at best only about $10 a kilogram "and you need an awful lot of it to make a kilogram".
He said the fact no one had been killed tampering with the lines suggested the people involved had electrical skills.
The thefts began last year in the suburban red zone but have since spread to areas where the electricity is live.
Mulford Plastics regional manager Kevin Murphy said the Sydenham business had been targeted four times in the past six months.
He said thieves had left live powerlines hanging and cost the business thousands of dollars in fees.
"Each time it happens, it costs us close to $500 in alarm monitoring, call-outs and technicians," he said.
The area was regularly targeted by graffiti vandals and people climbing fences and trespassing, Murphy said.
Clyne & Bennie managing director Martin De Gouw said the company had lost thousands of dollars as a result of power cuts.
"Since Christmas we've had three thefts of copper electrical cables in the area, resulting in power surges to computer equipment, loss of power at the business for up to two or three hours at a time and the inability for our office to contact and our staff to contact the office," he said.
He said the business had to purchase expensive back up generators for if it happened again.