Police cameras going into Maritime Electric substations to curb copper thefts

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: May 02, 2025 12:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 24 minutes ago

Maritime Electric is moving with Charlottetown Police Services to instal surveillance cameras astatine electrical substations successful a bid to halt radical from stealing copper wiring with the volition of selling it.

The company's CEO, Jason Roberts, said E-Watch cameras are being installed astatine immoderate of the utility's higher-risk sites.

Maritime Electric has seen a noticeable emergence successful vandalism and copper theft successful caller years, Roberts said. The inferior has recorded astir 61 incidents since 2022, including six already this year.

And these are not conscionable mean spot crimes; they're perchance fatal due to the fact that radical hazard getting electrocuted and dying connected the tract trying to prosecute successful this activity, helium said.

"If you deliberation astir your home, there's 240 volts that goes into your home. These substations tin person voltages anyplace from 12,000 to 138,000 volts. So it is simply a high-risk situation," Roberts told CBC News.

"When we spell to these substations and vandalism has occurred, and copper thefts occurred and we don't cognize astir it, past our employees that are entering the tract are instantly astatine risk, and they hazard getting electrocuted arsenic well."

Roberts besides pointed retired that the worth of the stolen copper is comparatively tiny and not worthy the information it creates for some the perpetrators and Maritime Electric staff.

He added that copper theft tin unit the inferior to instrumentality a substation offline, causing powerfulness outages for customers.

'This is truly going to help'

Roberts said Maritime Electric has already enactment respective information measures successful place, including chain-link fences, accrued lighting, informing signs and the company's ain surveillance cameras focused connected definite parts of the substations.

But catching the radical liable has been difficult, helium said.

"With these E-Watch cameras, we're hopeful that not lone bash we spot the radical that are going into the substation causing the damage, but erstwhile they leave, these cameras are capable to place the absorption that they're going, possibly the conveyance that they're in, the licence sheet that's connected it," helium said. 

"This is truly going to help, not lone successful the investigation, but the apprehension and prosecution of these individuals."

Roberts besides urged Islanders to study to constabulary immoderate suspicious enactment adjacent electrical substations, particularly if they spot vehicles oregon radical who don't look to beryllium Maritime Electric crews.