Crime down across state, power theft up in Seattle

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
have announced in their annual report that overall crime
in Washington went down in 2011.

However, a warning from the Seattle Police Department
shows that certain kinds of crime are increasing.
Specifically, more and more people are stealing
electricity, and it can be extremely dangerous.

The Seattle Police Department issued a warning to look out
for the power thieves, saying that at least two fires
earlier this week were started by wires illegally
connected to power supplies.

“If you don’t have an electrician doing this kind of work
here, if you’re doing it in a very ad-hoc, do-it-
yourselfer kind of connections that are taking place
[sic], it creates a safety hazard,” Scott Thomsen of
Seattle City Light told King-5 earlier this week.

Stealing power also makes it more expensive for other
customers. Seattle City Light estimates that it loses over
three million dollars each year to power thieves. That
brings up the rate for everyone, even though it’s spread
across many people in the greater Seattle metropolitan
area.

The Seattle Police Department advises everyone to be on
the lookout for wiring that looks unusual or like it was
made at home. Most of these power thieves are stealing
electricity to power indoor marijuana growing operations.

The in-home plant lights must be kept on for hours. Using
more electricity than normal shows up on power grids,
which can indicate to the police that there might be
illegal activity. That’s why some growers connect wires
illegally to other houses, or just to the main power line.

Even though stealing electricity is more common, law
enforcement officials have many reasons to be optimistic.
Crime in general in our state has gone down, with a sharp
decrease in violent crime.

The report, released earlier in May by the Washington
Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, reported that
crime overall in the state went down across the board last
year. Statistics show that total crime fell over three
percent across the board.

Property crime fell just three percent as well, while
violent crime fell by five percent. Two-thirds of violent
crimes, however, were aggravated assaults, which have been
more common since the last report in 2010.

The state is also safer for the police. The report says
that in 2011, no law enforcement officers were killed in
the line of duty. There was, however, almost a three
percent increase in assaults on officers last year.

So far, there are no similar statistics available for
power theft. The house fires this week, however, are
indicators of a larger problem that authorities think is
on the rise.

Police warn residents to watch for any wiring that appears
homemade, as it may be illegal and could pose a danger to
neighbors.

The Associated Press and KING-5 contributed to this
report