The Starkville Police Department is investigating the disappearance of a city sanitation vehicle that went missing from a city lot on Dec. 3.
Up until its apparent theft, the 1998 Ford F-250 was utilized by Starkville Sanitation and Environmental Services landscaping crews. City officials said the truck is white and bears the city’s traditional blue logo on its side.
The truck, which workers previously used to distribute garbage bags, was last seen at a city lot on Dr. Douglas Connor Drive, north of Highway 182.
Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, who was acting in Mayor Parker Wiseman’s capacity as the city’s leader was out of town Tuesday, asked residents to be on the lookout for the vehicle and provide investigators with any information as to its whereabouts.
“We have to fully ensure that we take all of the necessary steps to preserve and protect the property of the taxpayers,” Perkins said.
City officials issued a refresher on its vehicle policy to employees after the truck’s disappearance, reminding them to, among other things, not leave public property unlocked or keys in open view.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Adams declined to say if city workers left the truck’s keys in the vehicle, if the truck was unlocked or if the city lot it was stolen from has surveillance cameras nearby.
If you have information as to the whereabouts of the missing sanitation truck, call SPD at 662-323-4134.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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