Wichita public meeting to discuss scrap metal thefts

WICHITA (Scrap Monster): Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett will host a public meeting to address scrap metal thefts Thursday morning.

Scrap metal dealers, Kansas legislators and theft victims have been invited to the meeting, set for 9 to 11 a.m. at the Sedgwick County Extension Center’s 4-H Hall, 7001 W. 21st St. in Wichita. That’s near Ridge Road.

The goal, Bennett said in a news release, is to explore issues surrounding the crimes and to generate solutions to address them. The D.A. said he expects an amended bill dealing with scrap metal to be introduced into the 2015 legislative session.

A bill introduced last legislative session, House Bill 2736, would have required scrap yards statewide to photograph sellers, record serial numbers that appear on the metal, note the names of employees completing sales transactions and upload the information to a central database that would be used by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies to track down metal thieves. The bill died in committee in May.

Current law requires scrap metal dealers to take down names and addresses of sellers.

Courtesy: www.kansas.com