Faux Surveillance

A group of thieves is moving this way!!!

 

This time Chesapeake is the victim.   According to incident reports obtained via an open records request, thieves are breaking onto gas drill sites and stealing copper wire.  Apparently, Chesapeake told the City that was the reason why so many of their drill sites did not have  lightning arrestor systems or grounding in place.  Good excuse.  Although they failed inspection for this particular deficiency at numerous sites, only two reports of theft turned up in our search.  One incident occurred at the infamous Bruder Site.  An Arlington Detective spoke to the Chesapeake Energy Security Manager.  Here is an excerpt of that conversation:

"There is no video evidence from this offense or any witnesses... the Arlington well sites do not have upgraded security like the ones in Fort Worth and Johnson County and believes a group of thieves from that area is moving this way."

Despite no witnesses, no video evidence, the reportee ~ a pumper who works for Chesapeake ~  provided the dispatching officer a lengthy narrative including the names of possible suspects who happen to  drive a red Chevy pickup truck.  All heresay.

We called a city in Johnson County to check out the security manager's statement.  We spoke with Erik Welch, Burleson's Gas Well Coordinator.  (Erik previously worked under Collin Gregory before Collin became Arlington's Gas Well Coordinator.)

We learned that Burleson's security requirements ARE more stringent than Arlington's.  Their gas drilling ordinance mandates cameras in high pedestrian areas and any sites within 1,000 feet of a building or public gathering space.  Cameras must capture CLEAR video images as well as traffic entering and exiting the gate.  It must also capture CLEAR images of on-site production equipment AND be equipped with motion detection and  panning technology.  Video data must be maintained 400 hours, include the date and time, and have the capability to be viewed at a monitoring facility. 

Arlington's gas drilling ordinance is weak and poorly written.
Click here and go to Section 7.01 item 25 for a comparison. 

 

We hope  Chesapeake's Project Manager found the cameras they were looking for.  

We found some great deals on E-Bay!!