Coming on the heels of a plow truck stolen from the Lions Club skating rink on West High Street in Somersworth, N.H., is the theft of a snowblower from an Indigo Hill Road residence.
Jeff Gilman said his snowblower was stolen from his yard sometime between 5 and 9 p.m. on Feb. 2. Having been only a few weeks old at the time it was stolen, Gilman was disheartened to find it missing.
In this winter of heavy and frequent snowstorms, Gilman said he had no choice but to buy a new one, figuring the old one would not be recovered, at least not in time for the next snowfall.
While Police Capt. Russ Timmons said Gilman's report is the only one of its kind so far, he drew the comparison to the recent theft of the snow plow as a possible reflection of tough times.
"Maybe it's a response to the economy," Timmons said. "People are taking advantage of property that's not secured or not being watched."
Timmons said a problem police face with tracking down stolen items is that often serial numbers and the make and model aren't available after people have owned the equipment long enough.
"It's harder to make an entry into the NCIC," he said, referring to the National Crime Information Center, a computer database where information is stored for identifying an item if it is recovered.
Timmons said the plow truck stolen from the Lions Club "hadn't been a street-used vehicle" for some time so much of that information wasn't available.
Timmons said the department always encourages people to make sure their property is secure, especially overnight or during times when they won't be home.