LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Providence residents in the northwest Las Vegas valley woke up to lights out Tuesday morning after thieves ripped out copper from several light posts in the area.

Melvin Segovia who has lived in the northwest Providence community for 8 years said he never thought a crime like this would take place in his neighborhood.

“We walked outside and noticed that all the lights were off,” Segovia said. “It’s horrifying and obviously these are the only lights we have.”

Segovia said the word got out fast and that’s when neighbors started making calls.

“I did see the marshals and the city of Las Vegas trying to put the wires back in and take some reports,” he added.

Fellow Providence resident, Skyy Hammett acknowledges that crime nowadays knows no zip code.

“It’s starting to creep up a little bit. You get this false sense of safety and security when you move to an area like this,” Hammett said.

Hammett added that their HOA cut funding for their neighborhood patrol — something she and Segovia hope will get reinstated soon.

“It’s just having that presence of someone patrolling through the neighborhood,” Sergovia added. “I think it’s a deterrent that we are missing as we’ve seen crime increase in the community since they cut it out of the budget.”

As of now, it’s unclear when the lights will be turned back on for these northwest valley residents.

According to Clark County Public Works, more than 500,000 feet of wire has been stolen since 2022 across the valley.