The issue was raised during the May session of the Bolesławiec City Council by President Piotr Roman:
We are currently facing an epidemic of thefts.
He listed the gutters stolen by scrap thieves from Bolesławiec’s Termy, from the tenement buildings in the Market Square, and from the Kwiatowe housing estate. What is more, they also made off with the fence at the cemetery of Soviet soldiers and sewer grates.
The mayor commented:
In Bolesławiec, more than 25 percent of police positions are unfilled; there are vacancies and positions waiting to be filled.
He also suggested that this may be connected with the fact that unemployment in the city and county is at a record low.
The head of the municipal office added that municipal police officers had visited scrap collection points. At one of them, they heard that the facility not only refused to buy materials of suspicious origin but had itself even been robbed by scrap thieves.
Let us remind you: theft carries a sentence ranging from three months to as many as five years in prison. Burglary can result in up to ten years behind bars.