It is a podium on which the Oise would like to no longer appear.
For several years, the neighboring department of Ile-de-France has become the favorite playground of copper thieves.
And malicious acts targeting cables made of the precious metal are increasing.
First targeted by this scourge: telecommunications networks.
“The Oise is one of the French champions,” assures Olivier Girault, the regional delegate of Orange in Hauts-de-France.
It is a particularly hot subject which, here, emerges more than in many departments.
"
Since 2019, Orange, the main telephone operator in the department (70% of lines), has recorded “nearly 100 cable thefts” targeting its networks, or around 50 km of cables combined and some 20,000 households affected.
And for the incumbent operator, these repeated flights are starting to get expensive.
With cable replacements, the price of which is between 10 and 15,000 euros each time, "we have largely exceeded one million euros just for the Oise", assures Olivier Girault.
"Shorten our alert circuits"
The scale of the phenomenon is such that the company has just signed alongside the authorities a “convention to fight against malicious acts on telecommunications networks”.
Oise is the fifth French department to sign such a text, after Morbihan, Drôme, Vaucluse, and Seine-Maritime.
"It is an organized and structured response, where we had previously had a case-by-case management, insists the prefect of Oise.
"We have to solve business faster and better," adds Olivier Girault, the boss of Orange.
It is also, according to the boss of the gendarmes in the Oise, to better "target geographic areas" and "shorten our alert circuits".
Read also Cable flights twice a year: in Lachelle, the mayor "stops the fight"
From now on, a police officer and a gendarme will be responsible for matters relating to the security of communication sites. In particular, they will be responsible for carrying out field visits to “weak points on sites that are particularly sensitive or have already been the subject of malicious acts”. The new system should also make it possible to facilitate the filing of complaints. Very logically, it is not possible to reveal the details.
This is because the situation is becoming critical for the operator and its users.
In 2019 alone, "reference year" in the words of the prefect of Oise, Corinne Orzechowski, 54 flights were recorded.
That is to say 74 stolen cables and 12,500 affected households.
In 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, 30 thefts were still recorded.
And this rush for copper seems to be coming back again in 2021 with, as of June 1, 10 thefts to be deplored, including four in the month of May alone.
In Ile-de-France, Seine-et-Marne very targeted
In comparison, the Ile-de-France departments seem more spared.
In 2019, 52 thefts were recorded throughout the Paris region and 31 in 2020. In detail, Seine-et-Marne is the most impacted with 8 thefts of cables, three attempts and 18 acts of vandalism since the early 2021. “This territory represents practically half of the territory of Ile-de-France, we say at Orange.
Our thieves have understood that it is very easy to steal our cables in the countryside, far from all homes and safe from video protection devices.
"
In the rest of the region, on the other hand, the operator notes a downward trend "which follows several successes in flagrante delicto, arrests and legal convictions for individuals caught on the scene".
This copper scramble seems to come back again in 2021 with, on June 1, 10 thefts to be deplored, including four in the month of May alone, as here in Lachelle.
LP / Alexis Bisson
In the Oise, since 2019, three teams have been arrested, according to the gendarmes.
"Small but very active teams," maintains Colonel Tugdual Vieillard-Baron, head of the gendarmes in the Oise.
When we call on one or two, there is a rapid drop in activity.
"
Read also Oise: all powerless in the face of copper thefts
For copper enthusiasts, the process is always the same: “There are a minimum of three, overnight, position themselves at the level of the
access chambers
, cut the cables, attach the cut part to their truck and sometimes pull on several kilometers to go and burn the cables further.
"
An express method in the face of which the police are most often powerless.
Main difficulty: catching criminals in the act.
"With these new measures, we will now be able to be more efficient", wants to believe a gendarme of the department.