The Department of Public Works this week is installing three new surveillance cameras to prevent another theft of expensive equipment from the site.
The $9,000 surveillance system was purchased in response to the theft of a $100,000 piece of equipment from the yard in February.
The cameras will be placed to give sight of the entire public works garage and yard, and will have a direct feed to the Seymour Police Department headquarters, according to Director of Public Works Dennis Rozum.
“The whole yard will be covered,” Rozum said Thursday.
The stolen equipment — a huge tub grinder used to grind up tree stumps and brush into wood chips — has since been recovered and is stationed at the town’s transfer station.
It was a bizarre crime and recovery.
On Feb. 26, the grinder was parked at the public works garage for repairs. It was towed away by an unwitting tow truck company hired by the thief, police said. The machine was recovered 18 days later, parked right where the tow truck driver left it — in Queens, N.Y.
Police located the tow truck driver after an investigation. The driver told them where the machine was dropped off — and when police officers went to check it out, the tub grinder was still there.
Police said the tub grinder theft is linked to the theft of an expensive Trammel screener from Vermeer Northeast, a business just down the road from the public works yard.
The same scenario applied for that theft — however, when the tow truck owner led police to the spot where the machine was dropped off, it wasn’t there, police said.
Police are still investigating the second machinery theft.
