Solar panels easy pickings for thieves: police CBC.ca
Police are looking for suspects after two solar panels were stolen from a rural bridge job site north of Perth, Ont., last month.
Lanark County Ontario Provincial Police said the two panels, valued at over $1,000 each, were taken sometime between the evening of March 29 and the next morning.
The panels powered batteries on a sign that alerted traffic of the construction site at the Clydesville Bridge. Police said the theft poses a safety risk to drivers passing through the area at night.
Detachment Sgt. Rob Croth said solar panel thefts in the area go as far back as 2003 and usually involve stealing panels which power electrified fencing on farms.
He said people in the rural area are increasingly using solar panels for farming and home applications to live more off the electricity grid.
"They are of significant value right now, and anything of value seems to get stolen," said Croth.
"They are usually out in fields or open areas in the rural community, which again is an easy target for thieves," he said.
