I love Butte, Montana so much but MAN, do I hate people who steal stuff. Theft in Butte has been on the rise significantly in recent months and locals are now reporting that their GARBAGE CANS are being stolen. What? Why?

Having several friends who live in Butte and Anaconda, I avidly follow a Facebook Group called "Butte 411". Pretty typical 'general knowledge' postings and questions, lots of lost and found pets, community events, etc.

But between all that stuff you'll find ring camera videos of creepers in alleys at 3am, strange vehicles doing extremely slow drive-by scoping, and reports of property being blatantly stolen from porches, driveways and garages. Every town has to deal with theft but it seems that Butte is dealing with way more than it deserves. Which brings me to this:

"Apparently the theft in this town has got so bad that they are stealing garbage cans. I had 2 that I was hoping a neighbor borrowed and would return them. A week later still missing. I hope who ever stole them is living in it because you are a piece of trash."

THAT is about as lame as it gets. Not only is it seemingly pointless, but an incredible inconvenience to the person who lives there. Plus, this wasn't just a one-off occurrence. SEVERAL people chimed in that their cans had been nabbed too. A trash can? Really? For what?

NOTE: There was one respondent who stated she witnessed the trash truck stop by their house, lift the can to be emptied, and the can literally got tossed in the back of the garage truck too. But that was the exception...it seems the rest of the cans simply got jacked.

  • "Yours hasn’t been the only one I have seen."
  • "Garbage cans are teens. They like to ride in them. I let them. The city will return them when they find them. There's nothing else to do." (This response seemed a bit off, to me...)
  • "and of all the stuff they stole a garbage can. At least they were nice enough to wait until collection day rather than throwing garbage everywhere."
  • "And this is the part of the reason why I moved down to the trailer park out pass Walmart only one in town that actually has street lights on all night long and the neighbors talk to each other. I grew up by the hospital and it's only getting worse."
  • "Nothing is sacred"
  • "Someone jacked my parents cans too. They weren’t the Mcgree ones but 55 gallon ones with lids."

Butte, I feel for ya. I don't care if it's kids being stupid or what...but this kind of thing is not only THEFT, it's a pain in your butt. Thanks to those folks who have Ring doorbell cameras or other cameras on their property. It's not a guarantee by any means that someone won't steal something, but hopefully the jerks will get caught.

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