December 31, 2007
STURGIS, Mich. (AP) – Lifelong farmer Dave Sturgis made an unsettling discovery last spring while going out to water one of his fields. Copper thieves had risked electrocution to strip away hundreds of feet of electrical wiring from his irrigation system.
Thefts of copper wiring from farms have reached epidemic proportions in some areas of the country during the past few years, as the market value of copper skyrocketed from about 75 cents per pound in 2004 to more than $3 today. Construction sites and utility companies also have been targeted for their wiring, which thieves sell for its scrap value. Farms are particularly vulnerable to such thefts that happen during dry spells, when crops can be damaged or destroyed when there is no way to water them. Lawmakers in at least 27 states have passed or recently introduced bills aimed at making it harder for copper thieves to unload their ill-gotten gains and imposing stiffer penalties on those who get caught, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“The best thing that we can do is make it tougher for them to sell it. That’s the way I feel and so do many others,” says Sturgis. His St. Joseph County farm sits just outside Sturgis, a city of about 20,000 residents near the Indiana border that his family settled in the early 19th century.
He figures that whoever stole the wiring from his irrigation pivot – a wheeled sprinkler that is several hundred yards long and rotates around a center point – probably got no more than $200 from a scrap-metal buyer for it. Meanwhile, the thieves caused about $5,000 worth of damage, which took three weeks to repair. Looking back, Sturgis says he’s fortunate that the pivot wasn’t knocked out of service during last summer’s drought. “If we’re down for more than two days during the summer, we’ve got major crop loss,” he says.
A major crop loss is exactly what longtime Arizona citrus grower DeWayne Justice experienced after thieves last January stole some wiring leading from electrical transformers to a pump in his furrow irrigation system. Unable to provide water that could have offered some warmth to his lemon trees during a freeze, the Waddell, Ariz., producer lost his lemon crop, which he estimated to be a $25,000 to $40,000 loss. It cost $15,000 to repair the pump. “I just try to be a lot more vigilant and be more careful to check them,” Justice says of his pumps.
Copper thieves have hit farmers in Arizona and California particularly hard. An Arizona law that took effect in September requires sellers to provide identification to scrap-metal buyers when selling them more than $25 worth of metal. Buyers must mail checks to sellers instead of paying on the spot. More needs to be done to curb the theft of electrical wiring from Arizona farmers, says Julie Murphree, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation. That means cracking down on drug addicts, who generally are believed to be behind much of the larceny.
“We still feel that there is much that’s needed to try to push this back, including working in the communities to try to stop the drug abuse,” says Murphree. “If you can stop it in the beginning, then maybe you don’t have a young kid out there that happens to have an addiction risk his life for a couple of hundred dollars worth of copper.”
California lawmakers this year couldn’t agree on a bill that would have, among other things, required a scrap-metal buyer to wait 10 days to pay a seller, by check, after a sale. Another bill aimed at curbing copper theft from farms is likely to be drafted in the California State Assembly next year, says Danielle Rau, director of rural crime prevention for the California Farm Bureau Federation. “We’ll go back to the drawing board in January,” she says, “but one thing that I can say is that our legislators are well aware of the issue and many of them have expressed interest in taking this on, and really are committed to finding a solution.” Michigan state Rep. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, introduced legislation last month that is similar to Arizona’s new law. The bill is in committee, where it may soon get a hearing, says Kendra Butters, Brown’s legislative director.
The bill would amend an existing Michigan law to require that scrap-metal sellers produce a photo ID to junk and secondhand dealers. The buyers, in turn, would have to include photocopies of the IDs along with details of all their purchasing activities in weekly reports to local law-enforcement agencies. “Certainly a photo ID is something you can’t hide from,” Brown says.
Brown also is working on legislation that would make such a theft a more serious offense. Few people convicted of stealing electrical wiring from farms end up in jail under the current system.
St. Joseph County, one of four southern Michigan counties that Brown represents, is the state’s most irrigated county, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by copper thieves. The day after Brown introduced his bill, a group of farmers, law officers and elected officials met in St. Joseph County to discuss the local rash of wiring thefts. One farmer recalled how thieves had stolen wiring from his irrigation pivots on six occasions. Another pointed out that some growers in neighboring Cass County were offering a $3,000 reward for information about wire thefts from their farms.
Brown says farmers are fed up and taking action. “They’re in these fields where nobody sees them,” he says. “They think they’re taking advantage of the most vulnerable, those that don’t have eyes to see in the middle of the night, but I have to tell you these farmers are fighting back.”
Copyright © 2008 The Journal Record All Rights Reserved
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Lawmakers tangled in copper wire theft - Journal Record
March 20, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY – A law passed last year to combat theft of copper wire seems to have had little effect on the thieves, but has had a significant negative impact on law-abiding citizens who buy and sell scrap metal. Lawmakers are revisiting the issue this year, but some are questioning whether the changes proposed would improve or further complicate the situation.
In the summer of 2006, the market price of used copper increased from about $1.50 a pound to more than $4 a pound, and a spate of thefts ensued. Small businesses, particularly those providing construction and electrical services, reported the theft of thousands of dollars in equipment and materials. All kinds of companies and some residential buildings were left without air conditioning when thieves stole the coils from their air conditioning units. Electricity utility OG&E is estimated to have lost about $2 million over the last two years in wire theft and damages as thieves preyed on the company’s electrical substations – which also led to power outages.
The Legislature responded with a law designed to help law enforcement track down thieves and return stolen property to the rightful owners. Lawmakers targeted metal dealers, who are likely to be the first to encounter the stolen property when thieves attempt to sell the material. Metal dealers were required to document the identification of those bringing in copper wiring for sale, and to store purchased metal for 10 days before it could be used, giving victims of theft the opportunity to identify their property.
Bill Cale, president of Yaffe Iron and Metal in Muskogee, said he appreciates the intent of the legislation, but the approach is flawed. Cale said the problem with the new law is clearly demonstrated by taking the strategy advocated to deal with copper thefts and applying that same strategy to thefts of the most stolen item in the world: money.
“To accept the logic this law is based on, that would be like saying Wal-Mart can’t accept cash, or that Wal-Mart should have to hold the cash for ten days,” said Cale. “They’re making the assumption that everybody who sells metal is a thief.” The 10-day storage rule has created new problems for dealers, who have to find additional storage space for the metals they purchase. Some large operations may conduct $200,000 in business in one day, and may have a considerable amount of metal to store. Dealers also have to pay for added security to guard the stockpiles from thieves who would steal the metal just to sell it back to the metal dealers. Yaffe has invested about $200,000 in security measures for the company’s seven locations in Oklahoma, said Cale.
The law creates difficulties in purchasing decisions, as the market price for certain metals fluctuates on a daily basis, said Cale. The 10-day waiting period imposed by the law means metal dealers can never tell how much the metal they buy will actually be worth by the time they are allowed to sell it on the market. State Rep. Guy Liebmann, R-Oklahoma City, brought Senate Bill 1856 before the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, acknowledging from the outset of the discussion that last year’s law has not had the desired effect on copper thefts. The bill, authored by state Sen. Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City, would impose more restrictions on the sale of copper to metal dealers. But Liebmann said the bill would likely wind up in a conference committee at the end of session, allowing all involved to craft a compromise measure.
New provisions proposed this year would require a seller of copper wire to provide proof that the metal being sold is his or her rightful property. Lawmakers also propose a prohibition on the sale of wiring that has had its coating burned off. Liebmann said thieves typically burn off the coating to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to determine where the wiring came from. Liebmann said the legislation was requested by local police departments.
State Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, owner of NE OK Sign Co., said those provisions would hurt a lot of law-abiding citizens. In his community, a few elderly veterans supplement their income by scouring landfills looking for metal to sell. Those veterans would not be able to verify ownership of the metal, and so would lose that income source under the proposed law. State Rep. Ed Cannady, D-Whitefield, said he could not even verify ownership of the junk that has built up over several years in a ravine on his property. Brown said his employees are often called upon to tear out an old sign when they install a new sign. If the client has no use for the old materials, they will ask the workers to take the “junk” with them. Brown said he allows his employees to keep whatever materials they recover in this fashion. “They’ll save it up in buckets, and it adds up,” said Brown. “At the end of the year, the guys will haul it over to the dealer and sell it and they get to keep the money, kind of like a bonus.” That practice would be eliminated under the proposed law. Furthermore, in some old structures, the wiring is embedded in tar, and there is no way to remove the wiring without burning it free, said Brown. The wiring is worth less with the coating on, he added.
Committee member Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, asked how the bill would be applied if the wiring was recovered from a structure that had sustained fire damage. Liebmann said that was a good question, which could be addressed in a conference committee.
Lobbyist Clayton Taylor told the committee the Oklahoma Recycling Association is open to discuss ways to verify the identity of metal sellers and their ownership of the items for sale, but the group is hoping to get some relief from the 10-day “tag and hold” requirements imposed last year.
Both Brown and Cale said they are very familiar with many of their customers, so the identification and documentation requirements may seem excessive. Often, the dealers’ familiarity with the community will help identify and catch copper thieves, said Cale.
“If a guy comes in here with this huge roll of industrial-gauge wire in the back of his pickup truck, that’s suspicious,” said Cale. “If I know the guy, and he’s an electrician that I know contracts with OG&E or somebody like that, that’s all right. Just recently, a local appliance store was robbed, and they called us and let us know what they were missing. A guy came in a few hours later trying to sell the stuff, so we called law enforcement and they caught the guy. That happens fairly frequently.”
A narrow majority of lawmakers on the committee voted to advance SB 1856, which will next be heard by the full House of Representatives. The bill was hobbled by having its title removed, ensuring further discussion on the measure before it can become law.
Copyright © 2008 The Journal Record All Rights Reserved
OKLAHOMA CITY – A law passed last year to combat theft of copper wire seems to have had little effect on the thieves, but has had a significant negative impact on law-abiding citizens who buy and sell scrap metal. Lawmakers are revisiting the issue this year, but some are questioning whether the changes proposed would improve or further complicate the situation.
In the summer of 2006, the market price of used copper increased from about $1.50 a pound to more than $4 a pound, and a spate of thefts ensued. Small businesses, particularly those providing construction and electrical services, reported the theft of thousands of dollars in equipment and materials. All kinds of companies and some residential buildings were left without air conditioning when thieves stole the coils from their air conditioning units. Electricity utility OG&E is estimated to have lost about $2 million over the last two years in wire theft and damages as thieves preyed on the company’s electrical substations – which also led to power outages.
The Legislature responded with a law designed to help law enforcement track down thieves and return stolen property to the rightful owners. Lawmakers targeted metal dealers, who are likely to be the first to encounter the stolen property when thieves attempt to sell the material. Metal dealers were required to document the identification of those bringing in copper wiring for sale, and to store purchased metal for 10 days before it could be used, giving victims of theft the opportunity to identify their property.
Bill Cale, president of Yaffe Iron and Metal in Muskogee, said he appreciates the intent of the legislation, but the approach is flawed. Cale said the problem with the new law is clearly demonstrated by taking the strategy advocated to deal with copper thefts and applying that same strategy to thefts of the most stolen item in the world: money.
“To accept the logic this law is based on, that would be like saying Wal-Mart can’t accept cash, or that Wal-Mart should have to hold the cash for ten days,” said Cale. “They’re making the assumption that everybody who sells metal is a thief.” The 10-day storage rule has created new problems for dealers, who have to find additional storage space for the metals they purchase. Some large operations may conduct $200,000 in business in one day, and may have a considerable amount of metal to store. Dealers also have to pay for added security to guard the stockpiles from thieves who would steal the metal just to sell it back to the metal dealers. Yaffe has invested about $200,000 in security measures for the company’s seven locations in Oklahoma, said Cale.
The law creates difficulties in purchasing decisions, as the market price for certain metals fluctuates on a daily basis, said Cale. The 10-day waiting period imposed by the law means metal dealers can never tell how much the metal they buy will actually be worth by the time they are allowed to sell it on the market. State Rep. Guy Liebmann, R-Oklahoma City, brought Senate Bill 1856 before the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, acknowledging from the outset of the discussion that last year’s law has not had the desired effect on copper thefts. The bill, authored by state Sen. Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City, would impose more restrictions on the sale of copper to metal dealers. But Liebmann said the bill would likely wind up in a conference committee at the end of session, allowing all involved to craft a compromise measure.
New provisions proposed this year would require a seller of copper wire to provide proof that the metal being sold is his or her rightful property. Lawmakers also propose a prohibition on the sale of wiring that has had its coating burned off. Liebmann said thieves typically burn off the coating to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to determine where the wiring came from. Liebmann said the legislation was requested by local police departments.
State Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, owner of NE OK Sign Co., said those provisions would hurt a lot of law-abiding citizens. In his community, a few elderly veterans supplement their income by scouring landfills looking for metal to sell. Those veterans would not be able to verify ownership of the metal, and so would lose that income source under the proposed law. State Rep. Ed Cannady, D-Whitefield, said he could not even verify ownership of the junk that has built up over several years in a ravine on his property. Brown said his employees are often called upon to tear out an old sign when they install a new sign. If the client has no use for the old materials, they will ask the workers to take the “junk” with them. Brown said he allows his employees to keep whatever materials they recover in this fashion. “They’ll save it up in buckets, and it adds up,” said Brown. “At the end of the year, the guys will haul it over to the dealer and sell it and they get to keep the money, kind of like a bonus.” That practice would be eliminated under the proposed law. Furthermore, in some old structures, the wiring is embedded in tar, and there is no way to remove the wiring without burning it free, said Brown. The wiring is worth less with the coating on, he added.
Committee member Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, asked how the bill would be applied if the wiring was recovered from a structure that had sustained fire damage. Liebmann said that was a good question, which could be addressed in a conference committee.
Lobbyist Clayton Taylor told the committee the Oklahoma Recycling Association is open to discuss ways to verify the identity of metal sellers and their ownership of the items for sale, but the group is hoping to get some relief from the 10-day “tag and hold” requirements imposed last year.
Both Brown and Cale said they are very familiar with many of their customers, so the identification and documentation requirements may seem excessive. Often, the dealers’ familiarity with the community will help identify and catch copper thieves, said Cale.
“If a guy comes in here with this huge roll of industrial-gauge wire in the back of his pickup truck, that’s suspicious,” said Cale. “If I know the guy, and he’s an electrician that I know contracts with OG&E or somebody like that, that’s all right. Just recently, a local appliance store was robbed, and they called us and let us know what they were missing. A guy came in a few hours later trying to sell the stuff, so we called law enforcement and they caught the guy. That happens fairly frequently.”
A narrow majority of lawmakers on the committee voted to advance SB 1856, which will next be heard by the full House of Representatives. The bill was hobbled by having its title removed, ensuring further discussion on the measure before it can become law.
Copyright © 2008 The Journal Record All Rights Reserved
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