'Who steals a slide?' Burnaby RCMP asks after playground theft

On the Monday that teachers returned to school across the province, something was amiss on the two-year-old playground at Suncrest Elementary School in Burnaby. 

About nine feet of smooth, sloped plastic was missing, leaving behind a play structure summit with no practical way to dismount. 

"Who steals a slide?" asked Corpl. Michael Kalanj.

The missing slide, which police say is blue, was first noted on Sept. 7 by the school's groundskeeper. But Kalanj says its last known sighting was two weeks before that.

"There's a bit of a window there," he added.

Police believe the slide could've been stolen at any point during that period.

One of the hardest details for officers to understand was how exactly the crime could have been committed.

"This slide was so big that it would have had to have been a pretty big truck to drive it away," Kalanj said when contacted by CBC News.

"Unless they were able to open a gate to get into the playground, they would have had to carry this slide almost a full city block to get to the road to load it into the truck."

And police say there's been a lot of community outrage over the stolen slide, which is valued at $6,000.

"Anyone who has kids in their life is appalled. We just went through a summer without playgrounds. And as soon as the playgrounds were opened, part of this playground is inoperable," he said.

"The local parents and kids are out a pretty nice slide."

Police are asking anyone with surveillance footage from around the school to contact the Burnaby RCMP.