High copper prices make theives' gold mine
By James D. Ritchie
Nonferrous metals in general are at higher risk of theft, but copper is the hot target.
At first, Clarence Deimeke was puzzled. Then he got angry.
Last spring, when the Audrain County, Mo., farmer checked his irrigation equipment, he discovered that thieves had stripped the wiring to two center pivots; 1,250 feet of 3-phase copper wiring had been taken some time in the previous 2 weeks.
“The salvage value of the wiring was less than $600 but it cost us more than $5,000 to replace it, plus the cost of repairing other damage the thieves did to the equipment,” said Deimeke, who joins a growing number of victims of this kind of stealing. He guesses that more than 20 other farmers in his general area have suffered these kinds of theft losses.
“It’s bad here, too,” said Jarrod Smith, manager, MFA Agri Services at Bernie, Mo. “We’ve had a rash of wiring thefts in southeast Missouri: Irrigation rigs, grain bins, even wells where the submersible pump was pulled and the wiring yanked off.”
Farms, residences, construction firms, electric utilities, telephone companies all have been hit by a rash of thefts in the past 2 years, as prices for all nonferrous metals have skyrocketed. Houses and other buildings are stripped of aluminum rain gutters and siding. Bronze plaques and even grave markers are pilfered. Brass fittings and connections are lifted from construction supply yards and buildings under construction.
But the loot of choice for most thieves is copper, especially copper wiring. Scrap copper prices have risen to $3 or more per pound, double the value of just 2 years ago. A pickup load of scrap copper now can fetch $500 to $600. Fueling the price hike is a relative world shortage of copper ore and increasing demand from other countries—especially China. Deimeke’s stolen wiring no doubt has been re-smelted and today may be copper tubing in a Shanghai high-rise.
Among those hit earliest and most often are telephone companies and electric utilities. Last fall, more than 2,000 customers of Embarq (formerly Sprint) lost telephone service when thieves chopped down about 1,000 feet of trunk line.
"Our theft losses really started picking up about 18 months ago,” said Gary Owsley, manager of operations, Laclede Electric Cooperative. “We have nearly 5,200 miles of line stretched across parts of six counties and it’s impossible to patrol all of it all of the time. At first, we were missing copper ground wires from poles and wiring from unenergized lines.”
But thieves have steadily gotten more brazen. During the massive ice storm in January, 2007, Laclede Electric had a lot of down wire and much of it was picked up by thieves.
“Then, they even started cutting down poles with energized lines,” said Owsley. “After the ice storm, we had just replaced one section of poles and line near Laquey [Mo.] when a customer on that stretch of line called to tell us that his lights were out again.”
Owsley’s crew (followed closely by the county sheriff) went to the scene. There, they found that thieves had cut down 17 brand-new poles.
“We nailed them that time,” he said. “The thieves were still in the process of rolling up the wire when our crew and the sheriff’s deputies showed up. Of course, the wire was ruined, and amounted to less than $200 worth of copper scrap. But it cost $1,500 to replace it and the poles that had been cut off.
“Aside from the extra work and cost, this kind of thing is very dangerous—not only to the thieves themselves but to customers and line crews,” Owsley added. “I’m surprised more thieves haven’t been hurt or killed in taking down energized high-voltage lines.”
The copper theft epidemic has attracted attention in high places. Missouri state senators and representatives have held several town-hall type meetings around the state to solicit recommendations on legislation needed to help curb the stealing. At their annual meeting in December, Missouri Farm Bureau Federation delegates approved a resolution calling for buyers of scrap metal to record the identification, address and vehicle license numbers of sellers.
“We are compiling a database with information about copper theft and known thieves,” said Major Ron Replogle, Missouri Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigative unit. “We’re coordinating our efforts with local and county law enforcement agencies statewide, and we’ve had some successes.”
Among them was the recovery of more than $30,000 worth of wire stolen from a rural electric’s supply yard in Texas County. Within hours, the thieves were apprehended on I-44 in Crawford County, hauling the wire still on big wooden spools.
But the stealing continues, virtually nationwide. If you and your neighbors have been spared, consider yourselves fortunate, and be on guard. You cannot stop an individual from being a thief, but you can make it more difficult for him to steal from you, said Maj. Replogle.
Moving wells is not an option. And dismantling irrigation rigs and storing them in a shed under lock and key is decidedly impractical.
“But there are things you can do to reduce the risk of loss,” Maj. Replogle continued. “Most of this kind of stealing is theft of opportunity and anything you can do to lessen the opportunity, the better off you are.”
Since his center-pivot rigs were vandalized, Clarence Deimeke has strung 24-hour lights on equipment that must be left in the field.
“And we have banded the wiring every few feet with steel strapping,” he added. “This may not guarantee that we won’t have any more theft, but the thieves will have to go to more trouble and run greater risk of being detected.”
“Make a routine tour of your property and look for things that appear out of place,” suggested Jarrod Smith. “Watch for strange vehicles and jot down their license plate numbers; look for people in the area who don’t belong there.”
That’s good counsel, agreed Maj. Replogle. “And report to law officers any theft, as soon after the theft is discovered as possible. We have a better chance of catching the thieves while their trail is still warm.”
The Missouri Highway Patrol has an especially keen interest in nabbing people who steal wiring. A while back, the patrol’s communication relay tower in Bates County, Mo., was stripped of copper wiring.
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