Bridgewater police seek crosswalk flag thieves

Bridgewater police are asking people in town to keep an eye out for thieves responsible for stealing crosswalk flags.

Dozens have gone missing since last spring.

Bridgewater Police Service Sgt. Jerome Richard said it's a worry because elementary school children use the flags.

'Added precaution' for school children

Bridgewater police have installed crossing flag buckets at about half a dozen locations.

Richard, who looks after the flags, said three problem spots have had 40 flags stolen. Replacements have cost $600, he said.

Two problem spots are on Dominion Street near the town's elementary school at four-way intersections children cross on their way to and from school.

Each intersection has a clearly marked crosswalk and one has a crossing guard on site before and after school hours.

Richard said there is still a need for the crosswalk flags as an extra precaution. He said they help children learn to make eye contact with drivers before they cross the street.

"When the flags go missing, the kids don't get the chance to do that," he said. "It's a safety issue."

Flag theft drive-by

Bridgewater police sent out a Tweet Wednesday, asking for the public's help in finding the flag thieves. Richard said a few witnesses have come forward to report people taking flags then driving off.

"They'd come up to the intersection, the passenger would jump out, grab a few flags, take off and go," he said. "We did have a camera up of course, but we can't make out who's doing it."

Other times, he said, people have been swiping the flags at night and leaving them on people's yards.

"It's not just one person; it's a few," Richard said. "It's just a pain in the butt."

Disappearing flags a 'fact of life'

Norm Collins, president of the Crosswalk Safety Society of Nova Scotia, has installed buckets and buckets of crosswalk flags.

For him, flag theft is "regrettable, but unfortunately a fact of life."

He's put buckets and flags at 126 locations in the Halifax region over the past two years. Some spots have seen very little theft.

• Crosswalk safety flags set up at west-end Halifax intersection

At the 11 locations along Waverley Road in Dartmouth, Collins said 153 crosswalk flags have gone missing over two years.

A couple of crosswalk flag buckets had to be taken down at other locations because of the frequency of flags stolen — one across from the North Woodside Community Centre and the other near Ian Forsythe Elementary School.

"It baffles me why people would take them and what they would use them for," he said. "Maybe one or two as a lark, but to continue taking them seems perplexing."

Legal, monetary costs of stolen crossing flags

Collins said it costs $5 to replace each crosswalk flag. When dozens are pilfered, it can add up.

"While it is certainly frustrating to have the crosswalk flags go missing, when one considers other crosswalk safety tools — overhead lights, crossing guards — they are still an extremely affordable option."

Richard said anyone caught with a flag could be charged with possession of stolen property or mischief. If someone wants to report a theft, Richard said to call Bridgewater police at 902-543-2464.