Bill in Legislature seeks to curtail spike in copper thefts
February 1, 2012
By Caleb Heeringa
New: Feb. 1, 1:18 p.m.
Three local neighborhoods have been the target of scrap metal thieves who have dismantled portions of their entrance signs in recent months.
Timberline, Sterling Woods and Waterbrook have all fallen victim to the thief or thieves, who have torn copper tops off the neighborhoods’ monuments, leaving homeowners associations with thousands of dollars of repair costs.
Sammamish Police Administrative Sergeant Jessica Sullivan said there’s little doubt why criminals are going after copper – it’s essentially supply and demand.
“There are places that will pay good money for what they’re bringing in,” Sullivan said.
The price of copper, after a couple years of middling prices due to the recession, is hovering close to $4 a pound on international markets – close to what it was during the prime of the housing boom. Metal recyclers, of which there are dozens across the Puget Sound area, are paying close to that for scrap metal from members of the public.
The legislature has cracked down on scrap metal theft in recent years, forbidding recycling companies from paying more than $30 in cash for scrap metal and requiring that sellers provide photo identification. Though the requirements have at least slowed thieves down, Doug Glant, chairman at Pacific Iron and Metal Company in Seattle, said not all recyclers abide by the regulations.
“All the legit dealers comply, but some of the smaller, shady operations will still give you cash,” Glant said. “They can get away with it for a long time unless they happen to have the cops or IRS come in.”
Rep. Roger Goodman, a Democrat who represents the north end of Sammamish in the 45th District, has filed a bill bringing scrap metal recyclers, law enforcement and public utilities together in a task force on the matter to see what more can be done.
Goodman said the matter was brought to his attention by representatives from Puget Sound Energy, who have had more than $600,000 worth of copper stolen from their facilities in recent years.
“At least anecdotally, it seems to be about drug abuse and people trying to get money to support their drug habits,” Goodman said. “I am convening stakeholder groups … and trying to see if there are any ways that we can make the law better.”
According to the bill, which is currently being examined in the House’s committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the task force would look at:
u Increased penalties for the theft of crap metal.
u Holding criminals accountable for the damage caused during the theft rather than just the value of the metal stolen.
u Increasing restrictions on cash purchases of metal.
u More registration and licensing of scrap metal businesses.
u A “no buy” list forbidding recyclers from purchasing specific items.
u Increasing the use of scrap theft alert systems, which allow vendors to be on the lookout for specific items that have been stolen.
Sullivan said the department does not keep an independent tally of scrap metal thefts, which makes it difficult to measure whether Sammamish has seen an uptick in the crime.
Anecdotally, though, she said there seem to have been a lot in recent months. In addition to the vandalism of neighborhood monuments, a home under construction in the Glencoe development was stripped of copper wire in October.
Sullivan said it’s a difficult crime to prosecute for law enforcement, since it can be difficult to trace random pieces of metal back to a specific theft. She said Sammamish Police were once able to prove that a certain spool of copper piping came from a specific construction site because the numbering on the spool happened to match up to numbering on other pipe at the site.
Those situations are rare though. Sullivan said the best thing citizens can do is make sure any large amounts of metal are locked away, particular at construction sites.
“Make sure it is secured,” she said. “It has value just like tools or appliances. It should be kept under lock and key.”
Glant, who has been in the metal recycling business for 57 years, said it’s a crime that’s been happening for decades and will likely continue happening. Recent requirements on recyclers have added a lot of paperwork on Glant’s desk, but seem to have cut down on the amount of blatantly stolen material he sees.
“If you bring us a bunch of funeral urns or 50 aluminum beer kegs and you’re not a beer distributor, we’re going to turn you down and call the cops,” Glant said.
The law requires recyclers to write a check for anyone turning in more than $30 worth of metal and hold that check for 10 days before mailing it, as well as document the identity of anyone turning in metal.
“By the time they get the money if they had the itch for drugs, it allows them to cool off a bit,” Glant said.
Pacific Iron and Metal has also installed video cameras that records customers for law enforcement. But Glant said that petty theft doesn’t rank high on law enforcement’s priority list, particular in Seattle.
“People who want to do this know that they’re probably not going to get caught and if they do get caught they’re not likely to get punished,” he said.
And though criminals do seem to be seizing on the high price of copper in recent years, Glant said he doesn’t see a distinct correlation between scrap metal theft and the global markets.
“I don’t think they’re sitting around reading about commodity prices in the Wall Street Journal,” he said. “After they cleaned up I would hire them if they were that smart.”
Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.
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Um… editor?
“According to the bill, which is currently being examined in the House’s committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the task force would look at:
u Increased penalties for the theft of crap metal.”
[...] or individual homes that are being vandalized, but the neighborhoods themselves. According to the Sammamish Review, thieves have been stealing the copper off of neighborhood monuments to make a profit. Sammamish [...]