Construction Site Thefts Prompt Urgent Warning And Call To Action From Polk County Sheriff's Office

POLK COUNTY (DrydenWire) - Over the past 1-2 months, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has responded to numerous construction site-related thefts. In addition to construction trailers, several thousand dollars of tools and construction-related equipment have been taken. All of the thefts have occurred during the late night and/or early morning hours. The majority of the thefts have occurred in central, southeast, and southwest Polk County.

According to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Waak says that this release is intended to encourage those currently working on new build sites who commonly keep their equipment on the job site during the overnight hours (trailers, tools, vehicles, etc.), to take extra care securing your belongings. Consider removing trailers/equipment from the site when not working there, using gates or barriers when away from the site to prevent access to the property, utilizing surveillance equipment to monitor your location (s)- in addition to trail cameras, and positioning those devices where distinguishing characteristics of the suspect/suspect vehicle can be captured and/or documented (license plate of the vehicle). In addition, business signs commonly used to advertise building sites should be taken down when you are away from the property.

Below are images that have been captured recently from two separate construction-related thefts/burglaries, according to the Sheriff. The trailer was stolen from Central Polk County and to date, has not been recovered. The suspect vehicle used in that incident is also included. The image of the second vehicle is the suspect vehicle that was used recently during a construction-related theft that occurred in southern Polk County.

If you have any information on the construction site thefts/burglaries or the whereabouts of stolen property, the Polk County Sheriff's Office urges you to contact them at 715-485-8300. You can choose to remain anonymous.