Copper is the New Gold: Why Your City Air Conditioner is a Sitting Duck for Innovative Thieves

By Assemblyman Tom Berryhill

Metal theft, simply put, has reached an unacceptable level.  In 2005, the number of reported metal theft incidents went up 100% from the previous year, and in 2006 the increase was 400%.  The value of metals stolen last year was at least $6 million.  If you have haven’t caught the news stories already, know that nothing is being spared by metal thieves.  Your home -- even city buildings -- are at risk...

Farmers are seeing copper wires and aluminum pipes stripped from their equipment.  Utility companies are seeing their lines cut and stripped of copper wire.  Construction companies are losing wire and pipe at construction sites.  Schools, churches, and businesses are having the wire from air conditioning units stolen.  Catalytic converters are being ripped off of parked cars.  Even cemetery vases are not being left alone.  The list goes on and on, and the damage caused by the theft results in much greater costs for the victims than is gained by the thieves.

What explains all this?  The stolen metal can be sold to metal recyclers for a good amount of cash, on the spot.  Copper is the hot commodity in particular right now, given its high price, but thieves are taking just about any metal they can get their hands on.  Law enforcement agencies around the state have concluded from arrests made that metal thieves are predominantly drug users looking for quick, easy money to feed their habit.
   
Unfortunately, the State Legislature failed to act.  The bill I authored, Assembly Bill 844, would have toughened the restrictions on the purchase of metal.  However, it was killed after intense lobbying by the metal recycling industry to water the proposed restrictions down and prevent local governments from adopting their own ordinances.

So for now it is up to local governments to act until the Legislature has the stomach to come up with a statewide solution.  At a minimum, it is crucial that those selling metal to recyclers be paid by check several days after the transaction, so that metal theft is no longer appealing to those looking for drug money and that photocopies of a seller’s ID are also obtained.

I encourage local governments to visit my website and review the model ordinance that I drafted together with the State Sheriff’s Association and California Farm Bureau.  There isn’t time to wait until next year for the Legislature to step up to the plate.  The number of thefts keeps rising, so local governments need to tackle this issue now and cut the thieves off at the point of sale.