Kids at Suncrest Elementary School got an unpleasant surprise on their first day back to school – a thief or thieves had made off with their big, blue slide.
According to Burnaby RCMP, a groundskeeper noticed the slide, estimated to be worth about $6,000, was missing on Sept. 14, the first day of regular classes for students.
The school notified police that week.
"Honestly, who steals a slide?” asked Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Mike Kalanj. “The only thing I can think of is that someone wanted to build a playground around a slide and didn’t want to pay for it.”
The way the playground was built, Kalanj said people who don’t use it regularly wouldn’t necessarily have noticed the slide was missing, so it might have been stolen weeks before the groundskeeper noticed it was gone.
Unless the thief or thieves managed to get a vehicle past the parking lot gate, Kalanj said they would have had to carry the 10-foot slide some distance.
“I have a truck and my truck I don’t think is big enough to take a slide like this,” he said. “You would have to have a pretty large truck to drive this thing away, so our hope is that someone saw something out of the ordinary or maybe someone in the area has cameras on their house and they can check.”
Anyone with information about the missing slide is asked to contact Burnaby RCMP at 604-646-9999. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca.
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