Rising scrap metal thefts alarm caution in US

Specials  |  2012-01-23 05:16:10   |   By

When the price of metals increase along with a dip in the economy, property crime tends to rise. There has been an increase in copper theft across all commercial industries and households in the United States

TEXAS (Scrap Monster): When the price of metals increase along with a dip in the economy, property crime tends to rise. There has been an increase in copper theft across all commercial industries and households in the United States.

Criminals are on the lookout for exposed AC units, utility meters, catalytic converters, foreclosed properties, and any other wiring/piping that contains copper.

As an example of how mainstream the problem is, the city of Fresno in California was losing 1 million dollars a year in copper theft alone.

Overtaxed police departments are unable to be everywhere at once, and copper theft often happens on roofs, in industrial areas, and in the dark of night. Warehouses, retail centers, and industrial complexes are key targets for large-scale copper theft.

In Texas, as the website Click2Houston reported, “While crime statistics are down across the Houston area, police say the types of items being stolen are growing more surprising as crooks get more creative in the tough economy.”

These copper bandits leave hvac units, rooftops, retail property, warehouses and government buildings ripped up and destroyed by the process of removing the metal for resale.

In order to reduce the risk of copper theft and property damage many recyclers and even households have installed some sort of monitoring systems.

There are monitoring systems available which watches through cameras and will not only alert local police enforcement to a crime in progress but can also forward them the actual video data plus relevant details about the criminals.