Thieves keep targeting stop signs in Brown County town

TOWN OF GLENMORE, Wis. (WBAY) - A Brown County town is sounding the alarm after losing five of its stop signs to thieves this past year.

Recently, a Brown County highway crew replaced a sign Wednesday morning after someone stole it earlier in the week.

“These signs when they go down it’s costing money, but it could cost lives too,” said Cindy Ossmann, the Town of Glenmore Clerk

A string of traffic sign thefts - three just this past week - leave busy Town of Glenmore intersections vulnerable. The town supervisor, Ron Nowak, says he has one major concern: “People getting killed. If they don’t know there’s a stop sign there, and they run through it they could get hurt.”

While at the scene of a theft on tower and Glenrock roads, Action 2 News witnessed one car run a stop sign. The town clerk imagines what the situation could look like with missing signs.

”We really don’t want these signs down, we don’t want accidents to happen, we want the safety aspect of it first and foremost,” Ossmann said.

It’s not just stop signs being targeted. Just across Tower Road from one replaced stop sign, a speed limit sign has graffiti on it.

The town clerk says they won’t ask questions if signs are returned to town hall or outside a board member’s home.

”The best one is bullet holes through the stop signs. They use them for target practice too,” said Nowak

The recent thefts are costing taxpayers.

“If it’s a post and a sign, that’s costing the town typically around 500 dollars by the time the post, the sign and the labor for Brown County,” Ossmann explained.

The thieves could have to pay up, too. According to a sticker on a stop sign, taking or tampering with one can lead to a $500 fine or prison time.

”Parents if you see these signs in our kids’ cars, the garages, bring them back Put them outside the town hall,” said Ossmann.

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