KINGSTON, Jamaica — Telecommunications firm FLOW has announced a partnership with Crime Stop Jamaica that is expected to boost the company’s efforts to clamp down on theft and vandalism of its network assets.

Through the partnership, FLOW said it will pay rewards of up to $1 million for reports that lead to the arrest, charge and conviction of vandals who wreak havoc on the company’s property and cause severe loss of service and productivity for both its residential and business customers annually.

FLOW is also offering rewards of up to $100,000 for reports that lead to arrests related to the occurrence.

In a release today, FLOW said its senior director of customer experience, Ronnie Thompson, reports that since 2015, the company has expended over $300 million to replace and repair stolen or vandalized sections of both its copper and HFC (fibre) network and to address loss of services for customers.

“Since 2015, we have seen a significant increase in malicious acts of damage and theft which have resulted in significant loss of services for our customers and have also dampened our ability to carry out network improvement and expansion projects,” Thompson shared.  

While welcoming the recently announced ban of copper exports, which the company suspects was a major pull for vandals, he also noted that the company is experiencing significant problems with other areas of its network including damage to its Fiber Optic network.

“This issue extends beyond the copper network.  We have also seen where persons open access points and damage the fibre optic cables which carry vital voice and data services to our customers,” he stated.

Under the terms of the agreement, Crime Stop will facilitate calls from persons using the 311 number to report theft or damage of the company’s network while also collaborating with the Jamaica Constabulary Force to action loss prevention and recovery efforts.

Crime Stop will also undertake promotional efforts of the available rewards via its usual channels.