Four pump houses in the Post Falls area were burglarized last week by thieves seeking valuable copper wire.

One of the residents had two of his pump houses burglarized sometime between Dec. 1 and Dec. 5. According to a Kootenai County Sheriff's incident report, the pump houses had their locks cut off, and in one of the houses six feet of copper wire was removed. Lt. Stu Miller told The Press Tuesday that copper is often targeted by thieves.

"It's easy to turn it into cash through junkyards and recyclers," Miller said. "Also, pump houses and sprinkler pivots are easy targets because they are generally in the middle of a field with little to nobody around," Miller said.

The incident report further states that the resident had been contacted by a neighbor who also had copper wire thefts occur at his pump houses around the same time.

"A lot of the farmers that have had their equipment damaged or stolen have started neighborhood watch programs," Miller said. "They've also started to install cameras and other security measures to curb theft and vandalism."

Miller also encouraged area residents to "look out for one another" as a means of protecting property and suggested forming a neighborhood watch program if one doesn't already exist.

"Be diligent and mindful that there are bad people in the world that make it their job in life to prey on others," Miller said.