Posted on 08/01/2013 11:00:25 AM PDT by bkopto
Copper is such a hot commodity that thieves are going after the metal anywhere they can find it: an electrical power station in Wichita, Kan., or half a dozen middle-class homes in Morris Township, N.J. Even on a Utah highway construction site, crooks managed to abscond with six miles of copper wire.
Those are just a handful of recent targets across the U.S. in the $1 billion business of copper theft.
SNIP
The five leading states for the thefts are Ohio, Texas, Georgia, California and Illinois, the NICB said.
SNIP
Copper wire was stolen from a substation of Kansas-based Westar Energy in April, knocking out power in south Wichita and causing more than a $150,000 in damage. Westar officials said there have been more than 50 copper thefts at area substations this year, versus four in 2012.
"It's been like an epidemic this spring, and we couldn't keep up with the thefts," said Pat VanSyoc, director of substation maintenance for Westar.
"The damage can be quite extensive," he said. "It costs anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 for us to repair the substations, plus there's the loss of energy for our customers."
VanSyoc said thieves have no idea of the danger —for themselves and the company's repair crews—when they try to steal copper from power outlets.
"They can easily get electrocuted trying to steal copper wiring, and if we have to dig deep to find what they've stolen, it puts our repair people in danger as well," he said.
Police in some states, including West Virginia and Kansas, have reported deaths from suspected copper heists gone wrong, finding electrocuted victims carrying flashlights and bolt cutters next to power lines.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
“Obama’s America, cannabalizing itself, in so many different ways.”
That is fundamental transformation...isn’t it. He promised!
But, Joey Pluggs told us that the stimulus worked beyond their wildest dreams. This story is fake.
So, wonder why someone has not bought that $1 “home” in Detroit for its copper value? Even if no copper pipes... there must be at least $25 in the copper wire within the walls...
We need more laws.
Maybe ban copper posession without a permit.
Maybe a stop and frisk policy, search pickups and vans.
Every month or so, maybe not quite that often, I see on local TV where some guy has electrocuted himself stealing wire.
You would think it would be easier to just get a job.
Arc flash: doing the job the government is unwilling to do.
Another example of Third World country behavior - part of 0bama's [No] Hope and Change.
Wiring is probably stripped too. And those shiny faucets? Good solid brass with a good price.
When an invading people(Mexicans, Central Americans)take valuable property from the native population it is called a “SACK” not theft. See the “SACK” of Rome by the invading Goths in the 400’s A.D.
Copper has been a serious target of thieves for a long time, 20 solid years at least. Of course the media method is to report on something every 4 to 6 years and pretend it’s new.
Not enough copper to pay the taxes.
Not enough copper to pay the taxes.
I’ve thought about stealing wheel weights off of cars to cast bullets but my momma raised me better. Never thought about stealing copper. Maybe I’m just lazy.
Raise the import tariffs and put Americans back to work.
Raise the import tariffs and put Americans back to work.
Way to stop it is to warn and monitor all facilities that except copper with jail time if they accept stolen copper, especially wire. Manufactured copper has to be given to a facility to melt down. Go after them too.
It is sabotage and should be treated as a serious crime.
Too many culprits are buying the illicit metal for there ever to be serious enforcement.
Crime doesn’t pay but the hours are good.
The Darwin Awards people came out years ago and stated, “we won’t bother with the copper-theft-electrocution-stuff anymore, it’s too common.”
It's your fault they are stealing copper.
You bought all that cheap stuff from china, and put them out of jobs. Now they are stealing your copper. And it will get worse until jobs return to the US. And jobs won't return until Americans start buying from Americans again. And that's not going to happen until we restore the import tariffs of foreign producers or until we all make $2 a day like the Chinese.
So yes, raising import tariffs is in your best interest.
It's your fault they are stealing copper.
You bought all that cheap stuff from china, and put them out of jobs. Now they are stealing your copper. And it will get worse until jobs return to the US. And jobs won't return until Americans start buying from Americans again. And that's not going to happen until we restore the import tariffs of foreign producers or until we all make $2 a day like the Chinese.
So yes, raising import tariffs is in your best interest.
How do you prove it’s stolen? More importantly how do you expect the business to figure out it’s stolen before they purchase? People bring in legitimately acquired scrap metal, including copper, all the time. I knew guys growing up that had that as their primary source of income, buy/ find junked cars and other random metals (usually in impromptu “dump sites” that happen on the edge of towns), take them apart, sell the metal. How does a business tell the difference between them and a guy dissecting houses under construction? That’s part of why thieves are into this stuff, no serial numbers, once they safely get away from the theft site copper is copper.
Thank you, Ms. Pelosi. Just wanted to make things clear.
The way to stop theft is NOT to raise the price of non-stolen versions of same. And these guys weren’t put out of work. Thieves are thieves, law abiding people don’t generally turn into thieves.
Unless you just think U.S. people are always more incompetent.
I remember that. I remember hearing about bold copper thieves in East St Louis walking right past cop cars with arms full before I was old enough to drink legally. Probably 10 minutes after the first scrap metal yard was founded somebody figured out you could steal copper.
That being said, if someone comes in with fresh copper or aluminum coils with company stickers still attached (as happened to one of the companies I worked-for as a result of theft), you can't look the other way. You're receiving stolen property.
That’s all right . . . let it out. Here’s a tissue.
Correlation is not causation, so I take your point.
Here is the results of 40 years of 1% import tariffs.
![](http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif?hl=ad&t=1373030154")
Tariffs may be another interesting discussion....but let me assure you, the average copper thief is not some guy who lost his job at the textile mill, due to cheap Chinese imports.
The average copper thief is a drug addict.
That may be. But ever hear the saying "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."? How many unemployed people turn to alcohol and drugs? How many kids of unemployed people turn to alcohol and drugs?
When people have jobs, there is less despair. And where there is less despair there are fewer addicts.
I don't believe you wrote that.
You're on the wrong forum. Seriously. We believe in individual responsibility here, not societal responsibility. Stealing is nobody's fault but the thief's.
Part of the problem is that some scrap yards pay cash for the copper.
The solution is to require direct deposit into a bank account or deposit on a debit or credit card. That way they have to obtain a bank account which generally requires a couple forms of ID and a social security number. It also takes time.
Now the transaction is recorded not only at the scrap yard, but through the banking system as well.
Interestingly enough, ‘getting sacked’ is also a brit term for ‘getting fired’. Of course the more common pommie term is “Discharged”, but far more polite than ‘getting the boot’ as in ‘booted out’ would be.
A couple of years ago, while visiting wifey's kin in little Melrose, we were staying at the town's only motel.
A van fulla Mexican men pulled up, and the driver rented one room....I asked Patel if this was suspicious to him, and he just said, "It happens all the time" - this was around 9am, and by 5pm they were out and gone.
Our founding fathers in the Consitution gave Congress the responsibilty to regulate trade with foreign countries. Why? Because they understood that needed to be regulated and was an important role of government.
We have followed and are still following government trade policies that are allowing American industries to be decimated. Our founding fathers would role over in their graves if they could see what we are doing.
I'm on the right thread. Freedom is not protected by outsourcing all our industry to Communist China. To protect individual liberty, the free state must be protected. And that starts with protecting it's economy.
For many years Thomas Jefferson believed that America should remain an agricultural economy and trade for manufactured goods. And then in his words "the unthinkable happened", Europe cut us off from manufactured goods. And Jefferson came to the conclusion that a strong manufacturing base was necessary to protect a free state. +
Yep, taxes are like $150,000 probably...
but, if I buy it for $1, take the copper, and then abandon it like the last guy...
You might check with tire shops and auto repair facilities to see what they do with used wheel weights.
Years ago a guy asked an electrical contractor friend of mine how much he’d charged to put up an electric fence to hold in his hound dogs. He thought the price was too high and said he’d do it himself. About two weeks later he found everyone of his dogs dead. He had hooked 120 volts to his fence.
How much more should I pay in taxes in order to stop this scourge of copper theft, in your opinion?
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