Thefts from elevators gain momentum again in Chisinau

17 elevators from dwelling blocks in Chisinau don’t work, as spare-parts from them were stolen to be sold as colored metals, said deputy mayor Vlad Cotet at the Monday sitting of the City Hall, Info-Prim Neo reports. A similar situation happened a year ago when the police arrested the elevator thieves. The discussion on this issue again degenerated into an exchange of words, not so pleasant, between the mayor and the head of the municipal police. According to the manager of the municipal company Lift-Service, Ion Stanciu, the situation of 2007 is repeating. Then his company incurred losses of circa 540,000 lei because of thefts from elevators. The thefts started to gain momentum in March and the first week of April, when 75 cases were registered, compared with 2 in January and 4 in February. This year the company has incurred losses of circa 100,000 because of being stolen equipment from, Ion Stanciu said. The manager maintains the thefts are made by a group well organized and mobile. The parts they steal can be transported only by car. The offenders destroy the padlocks or get in through the windows of the elevator rooms. They prefer the copper parts mostly. Chisinau general mayor Dorin Chirtoac has wanted to know why the thefts occur only in four of those five districts of the city. The exception is only in Ciocana district, where most of the elevators (730) are managed by Grand-Lift, and the rest (170) by Lift-Service. The mayor has urged the district heads to monitor the elevators involving people’s guards, reasoning “we don’t have other sources, although we fund the municipal police”. Asked to provide information as to this matter, the head of the municipal police, Iacob Gumenita, has said two people were arrested under suspicion of stealing from elevators in Buiucani sector, as another case was discovered last night in Botanica district. According to the deputy commissar, their investigations found that many elevator rooms were not locked up. Iacob Gumenita complains often the police are not called to investigate the cases. Then, the top cop insisted to give a speech in which he spoke about the large number of stray dogs, asking to allocate money to buy a plot and build an isolator. He has complained there are no conditions in leisure green places. There are no sufficient parking lots, traffic signs, garbage collectors, the garbage is not taken away in time, Gumenita says. The discourse made the mayor indignant. “Don’t you thing you confuse the things here? You should execute, not establish charges for the City Hall,” Dorin Chirtoaca retorted.