Bell recently filed a lawsuit against Stuart McCann, a man criminally charged with copper wire theft, in an effort to deter network vandalism.
The lawsuit alleges that McCann’s theft of copper telephone wire led to service disruptions for approximately 1,000 customers in the Fredericton area of New Brunswick, leaving them without home phone, internet, and TV services for around 12 hours.
Bell is also targeting McCann’s alleged co-conspirators, including individuals or scrap metal businesses suspected of knowingly purchasing the stolen copper.
Since January 2022, Bell’s network has experienced over 420 security incidents, with copper theft accounting for 75% of these cases.
The most affected regions include Ontario, accounting for 46% of incidents, New Brunswick with 24%, and Québec with 17%. These incidents have resulted in millions in damages to critical infrastructure and hundreds of hours of service interruption for customers, says the company.
“With 420 security incidents on Bell’s network since January 2022, 75% of which being copper theft, we are taking extra measures to protect our critical infrastructure by issuing lawsuits against people accused of vandalism. Our customers deserve reliable communications networks to stay connected and reach emergency services, which is taken from them after each incident until repairs are completed,” said Dana Lohnes, Director of Field Services at Bell Aliant in a statement on Wednesday.
Bell is determined to aggressively prosecute this claim and pursue future claims against individuals and scrap yards involved in copper wire theft or trafficking. The company says additional alarms, security, and local law enforcement support are not sufficient deterrents against copper thieves.
As such, Bell is urging provincial and federal governments to help telcos “improve the resiliency” of its networks. The company is calling for decisive, timely action to increase fines and amend the Criminal Code, citing critical infrastructure as essential to the security of Canada.
Back in April, Bell also sued a copper thief, issuing a similar press release naming and shaming the alleged culprit, calling on governments to take action.
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If anyone would know anything about thievery, it is Bell Canada as they have been in the business of robbing Canadians for decades.
Your gonna sue people stealing copper wires. You realize these people have no money so how do you stop them? This is what a drug addict does… steal copper wires for drugs. The real criminal is the government with his inflation.
Theft is theft and it is still wrong. One cannot just break the law because times are tough. It is your responsibility as a citizen to better your country,not destroy it.
I’m sorry, your rationale for stealing is off-course. Thieves do not understand the meaning of working for a living. They only know a qick fix to acquisition of money. Then there’s the social level of their level of intelligence, but we won’t go there right now.
The problem is the catch and release justice system with no accountability.
Stealing electrical or telecom copper cabling can put whole communities at risk of life threatening disaster in an emergency. Declare the criminal a dangerous offender and subject them to long term incarceration. Give them opportunity to detox, rehabilitate, and re enter society in the future as a low risk offender.
I’d think if these big corporations and telecom giants were to donate to organizations that try to help these people. They might get tax breaks from the Government and realize the Government is helping. Sounds like the route they are on is just gonna keep costing them millions. And a select few will get 100’s of thousands of dollars worth of punishishment. Resulting in court and Lawyers fees. And the criminal gets a few hours or days of care from the Govenment costing taxpayers even more. PFFT… Not a clue what to recommend. But not feeling like they are gonna solve this on the path they are on.