Combating Copper Crooks

Until the last quarter of 2008, the price of No. 2 copper scrap was increasing at an unprecedented rate. In January 2007, the price for the material, as reported by American Metal Market, was $2.34 per pound and it reached an all-time high in April 2008 at $3.57 per pound. Not surprisingly, as the prices of copper and other base metals increased, so too did incidences of metal theft from homes and businesses.

Now that the value of copper and other scrap metals has fallen drastically—copper to $1.44 as of mid-March—metal theft also has declined.

However, legislators, law enforcement agencies, scrap recyclers and local businesses are remaining proactive, exploring better ways to combat metals theft when the market rebounds.

Throughout the past few years, metal thieves have done millions of dollars in damage to communities and businesses by stealing metal from construction sites, abandoned buildings, utility companies, scrap yards and other locations. As thefts began increasing across the country, and even the world, law enforcement agencies have stepped up their efforts to protect businesses and residents in their communities.

"Metal theft was becoming such an epidemic that you were seeing more of a proactive response on the international level," says Sgt. Theresa Clark of the Phoenix Police Department. "Combating metal theft goes beyond just catching the bad guys. It’s educating the community. It’s working with the different legislatures, business entities and the victims," she adds.

While elected officials and law enforcement agencies across the country realize metals theft is an issue that needs to be addressed, there seem to be differing opinions on the best method to confront the problem. More than half of the U.S. states and many cities and counties have passed laws or ordinances imposing new restrictions and measures scrap recyclers must take when purchasing metal at their yards.

Because metal recyclers are concerned about the welfare of their local communities and may be victims of metal theft themselves, many are eager to comply with local legislation and law enforcement to combat metal thieves.

"We care deeply about the quality of life in our communities," says Daniel Sumberg, general manager of Liberty Iron & Metal SW, Phoenix. "Anything we can do to reduce metal theft that is reasonable we are willing to do."

Common regulations mandated by local or state laws include keeping records of all transactions, taking photos of customers, obtaining a copy of each customer’s driver’s license, recording a description of the vehicle customers arrive in and recording the license plate number of the vehicle.

Stricter legislation may also require tag-and-hold policies, payment by cash only, restrictions on which materials can be purchased or notification of law enforcement agencies for sales of metal over a certain weight, according to Kendall Brown, investigator at the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department, Augusta, Ga.

Some of the stricter regulations are cause for animosity among legislators, law enforcement and scrap recyclers.

Many scrap yards have been quick to accept the requirements of the new legislation; however, some of the laws are unreasonable, says Danielle Waterfield, director of government relations for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, D.C.

One such regulation that Waterfield deems extreme is a 10-day tag-and-hold policy passed as part of a city ordinance in Memphis, Tenn. In December 2008 the Tennessee Scrap Recyclers Association challenged the ordinance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.

"The Memphis ordinance is overly burdensome because it specifically requires that scrap recyclers tag and hold in separate piles every transaction that comes through for 10 days," says Waterfield. "One of the plaintiffs in the case did a study, and essentially seven to 10 acres of additional land would be required to accommodate the Memphis ordinance."

Additionally, Waterfield says policies requiring payment by check, which is also a provision of the Memphis ordinance, are disconcerting, considering scrap peddlers have been receiving cash payments since the occupation emerged hundreds of years ago.

"They choose to deal in cash because many of these customers don’t make enough money to pay the bank fees to have a checking account," Waterfield says. "And if they don’t have a bank account, they may have to pay $5 or more to have their check cashed, and it may only be worth $7.50."

Finally, complying with some of the regulations regarding which materials recyclers are allowed or not allowed to purchase is challenging for scrap yards.

"In Arizona it is illegal to buy wire that has been stripped from an individual but OK to buy stripped wire from a business," says Sumberg. "It is legal to buy bare bright wire from anyone as long as it has not been stripped. This causes us to determine whether or not bare wire has been stripped."

Waterfield says some recyclers are unsupportive of the ordinances because they feel the legislation is shifting the law enforcement role to the scrap yards.

"What these ordinances are effectively doing is they are deputizing private citizens and having them perform a law enforcement duty. It’s not the scrap recyclers’ place to accuse everyone who walks through their doors of being a thief, which is essentially what some of these ordinances do," says Waterfield.

Feelings such as these from scrap recyclers are a chief reason there is sometimes tension between scrap yards, legislators and law enforcement. Often times, recyclers resent legislators and law enforcement because they feel unreasonable burdens are being placed on their businesses. In turn, some members of law enforcement and legislators then may assume unsupportive yards are criminals in the business of purchasing stolen metal.

"We are not naïve enough to think there are no bad apples in the industry," says Waterfield. "A majority of recyclers are strongly supportive of going after those [who] are not abiding by the law and are giving the industry a bad name. We are not the problem, we are part of the solution."

In some areas of the country, law enforcement agencies and legislators have determined that they share the same goal. These communities have learned that through cooperation they can effectively combat metal theft.

During early 2008, Augusta, Ga., and the surrounding communities were experiencing between 90 and 120 reports of metal thefts per month. Realizing metal theft was a serious problem, negatively affecting local businesses and communities, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department hired Kendall Brown as a full-time investigator to focus specifically on deterring and catching metal thieves.

Once on the job, Brown developed a task force in Richmond County and nearby Dayton County, S.C., which was comprised of recyclers, law enforcement agencies and local businesses. The task force united the groups to work toward a common goal of decreasing metal theft.

"What we were able to do was to target scrap yards and get them on the same sheet music as law enforcement and local businesses," he says. "It was not so much going in there with an iron fist to start hammering them, but trying to get them to understand that it is affecting the community and to get them on board."

Brown reports that local recyclers were very supportive of the efforts to crack down on thieves, offering little resistance to an increase in regulations.

"They don’t want their scrap yards to be known in the community and among thieves as a place they can get rid of stolen property," says Brown. "They are the main reason why we are successful."

Brown has set up a theft alert system for Augusta and Aiken, S.C., which allows him to quickly disseminate e-mails alerting all members of the task force that a metal theft has occurred and to be wary of suspicious materials. If a scrap yard suspects that a customer has entered the yard with stolen material, Brown has trained recyclers to call law enforcement and to stall the peddler until officers arrive to apprehend the suspect. The system has worked well for the Augusta area, and Brown says area law enforcement agencies have made more than 150 metal-theft related arrests.

While the declining value of copper and other metals can be a deterrent to potential thieves, Brown says he believes increased collaboration among law enforcement, businesses and recyclers is the main reason incidences of metal theft have declined from an average of 90 to 120 thefts per month when he started to five or 10 thefts per month now.

"Law enforcement is more of a deterrent, because even though price is down, it’s not worth stealing metal to make any kind of money because they know they’re going to wind up getting arrested," says Brown.