Reza Moghissi with the county's department of transportation says workers are taking extra steps to stop thefts or at least slow them down.

MOGHISSI: "We are welding shut the hand-hole cover.  That's the cover on the streetlight poll.  We are also filling the exposed utility boxes or electrical boxes next to the street light pole with concrete."

The county is sending out letters asking people to pay more attention to any activity going on around neighborhood power poles and to call the police if they see someone working on a pole without a county vehicle.  Often, thieves have struck the same location more than once.

66 electrical circuits have been damaged so far and the county now has a three-month backlog of outages to repair.