FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — The chief of the Fort Fairfield Police Department is asking parents to check their children’s bedrooms for about a dozen missing street signs.
While employees of the public works department have been out doing annual spring cleaning and working on local streets, culverts and ditches, they noticed a startling number of street signs missing from atop their posts, Chief Shawn Newell said Friday.
“At this point, I would guess between 10 to 15 are missing,” said Newell. “At $20 to $25 a piece, that starts to add up for the taxpayers.”
Signs have been stolen from the areas of Riverside and Elm streets, among others, he said.
At this point, there are no suspects. But in a post on the department’s Facebook page, Newell asked parents to “check their children’s bedrooms” for any trace of the missing street signs.
The chief said that if the signs are returned to the station, police officers will not ask any questions.
But if individuals are caught with the signs, they could be charged with theft by unauthorized taking or transfer, a misdemeanor that could lead to jail time or fines.
He said he has no idea why anyone would want the signs.
“They are a hideous green color,” Newell said Friday.