Police remind public the dangers of thieves vandalizing telecom cables

Crimes involving the vandalizing of telecom cables and internet lines in King County have caught the attention of the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and it is partnering with Comcast to find those responsible for those crimes.

The KCSO, working with the giant global media and technology company, delivered a message about the serious ramifications these crimes can have on the general public in a video post on its Facebook page Monday.

“Thieves have been vandalizing telecom cables and internet lines which is putting off 911 services, schools, hospitals, local businesses and your home internet connectivity,” KCSO Detective Mike Ramirez said as part of his public service announcement video.

Ramirez went on to remind viewers that tampering with those cables is a crime and recommended people who witness those crimes being committed or have information about them, to reach out to the King County Sheriff’s Office with information.

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Recent reported incidents of cable line vandalism

Some Xfinity and Comcast Business customers around South King County experienced service outages in late October after two of the company’s cable lines were damaged in a case of vandalism.

“Our dedicated network maintenance crews were onsite that morning to repair the damaged cable. Traffic control and construction support were required to access the damaged cable safely,” a Comcast spokesperson confirmed in a statement to MyNorthwest at the time the repairs were done.

Comcast disclosed on a company website in May some Xfinity and Comcast Business customers in Kitsap County experienced an interruption to their services when the company’s cable lines also  “were damaged due to vandalism.”

The online post included a photo of a severed cable line on a roadside.

Comcast also reported in a similar company website post in early April another cable issue as a result of vandalism. The company stated customers in Tacoma and several areas of Pierce County experienced an interruption to their services due to vandals damaging cable lines.

When events like this happen, the company has suggested to customers they check for outages or service issues at xfinity.com/status or on the Xfinity app.

Ziply Fiber reported a similar issue on the Eastside during the summer, affecting hundreds of customers in Kirkland, KOMO News reported.

Why are thieves vandalizing the cables and internet lines?

“At the moment, we’re seeing two or three cuts a week,” Ziply Fiber spokesman Ryan Luckin said to KOMO earlier this year. “This is vandalism. This is essentially folks going up and tampering with telephone lines and different types of utilities that are up there and they’re looking for copper. They’re trying to take the copper to go and resell that to put some money in their pocket.”

The KCSO video did not call out the desire for copper specifically. However, the Fierce Network, which covers the communications technology industry, published a piece in early November discussing the vandalism seen and noted the desire for copper wire as a key reason for the crimes.

Complicating matters, it is common for thieves looking for copper to cut fiber lines, which don’t have copper, by mistake.

Overall, communication services company Lumen — which holds the naming rights to Seattle’s Lumen Field — sees copper theft as a “serious threat to the critical infrastructure,” a representative told the Fierce Network. Notably, that spokesperson called out “concentrated activity” in four western states: Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona.

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.