It is a scourge which is not new but is currently affecting the Pays Sous Vosgien, in Haute-Saône and in the Territoire de Belfort: the theft of copper cables which equip street lamps. Several villages have been victims of these thefts in recent weeks. Result: municipalities deprived of public lighting and above all tens of thousands of euros in damage.
Company
From daily life to major issues, discover the subjects that make up local society, such as justice, education, health and family.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the “Society” newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
“We are scandalized“. In Giromany (Territoire de Belfort), words fail Jean-Louis Salort, 1is deputy to the town hall. Since December 31, 2024, in the space of a few weeks, 17 streets in the town as well as the football field have had the copper cables of public lighting stolen, almost 2 km of cables. The criminals open the street lamp cases, attach the cables to a car and pull them. They then recover the copper they contain. “It’s dramatic for the community. Already in winter all the streets are in the dark, so there is much less security. Children go to school in the dark, they come back in the dark… Vulnerable people are also in the dark. It's complicated“.
In the Pays Sous Vosgien, at least four other villages have also been victims of theft since the start of the year: Rougegoutte, Vescemont, Eloie, Grosmagny and also in Plancher-Bas, in Haute-Saône. For these small communities, repair quotes are very important. “For some municipalities it’s 45,000 euros, others 20,000, 16,000, 13,000… It depends“, explains Pascal Baumgartner, electrician. Jean-Louis Salort explains that for Giromany, the envelope amounts to 40,000 euros, if they do not make a bad discovery, not knowing the state of the ducts. In Grosmagny, with 1.5 km of stolen cables, the estimate amounts to 45,000 euros.This is a very large sum for our small town of 500 inhabitants.“, underlines the mayor, Maurice Leguillon.
-In Eloie, 500 meters of cables were stolen from a brand new track, freshly inaugurated. A hard blow for Eric Gilbert, mayor of the town. In addition to the security aspect, he denounces the gap between the gain made by the thieves and the cost that this imposes on the municipality. “It's a disaster. It's 20 times more expensive to repair, compared to what they will earn. For us, the cost amounts to 20,000 euros and for the thieves, it is 1,000 euros on resale. It's extremely frustrating“, he argues.
“What costs is labor, which is significant. You need a crane, two/three people on foot, and cable. All in all, that's what's expensive“, continues the electrician. To avoid new thefts, they are replacing the copper cables with aluminum cables.”because it's worthless, it's not worth reselling“. On resale, thieves pocket around two euros per kilo for the raw cables. It's six times more if they strip them and only resell the copper.
Faced with this increase in thefts, these elected officials from the municipalities concerned also fear the surge in their insurance contributions. “Already without a declared disaster we are already increased…“, blurted out the mayor of Grosmagny, before the mayor of Eloie added: “We know to what extent insurance companies are vigilant towards local authorities when renewing their contracts. There, certainly, it is once again a questioning of the sustainability of this future contract, if it were to be renewed.”
On the legal side, no arrests have been made yet. The gendarmes are counting on the vigilance of residents, by calling 17 to report a car passing at a late hour. But also calls on citizens to note the number plates, the make of the car… Elected officials are also counting on reports from residents to stem this scourge.
Comments collected by Hugo Flotat-Talon/FTV
