With prices hovering near record highs, some thieves are dying — literally — to get their hands on copper.
Reports of thefts of copper have taken a jump in this area, according to Emporia Police Chief Mike Heffron.
“When there’s a big rash of it, it’s usually due to just a few people doing the burglaries and thefts,” he said.
The local increase parallels a worldwide phenomenon. From Kansas to Hawaii to Italy to France, Guam, Australia, India, and beyond, more and more copper thefts are being reported to authorities.
Cities around the world have experienced power outages and telephone outages because of thefts of copper. Residents in Bangor, Maine, recently lost electrical power when thieves struck four substations and took thousands of dollars’ worth of copper wiring.
In Reading, Pa., a thief was electrocuted recently while attempting to cut down insulated copper utility wire. A similar attempt here in Greenwood County was successful, in that the thief was able to steal the copper wire without fatal injury.
Thieves are taking copper from oil fields, utility-related companies, air conditioners and anything else they can get their hands on.
“We have had a couple of buildings that have had the wiring stripped out,” said Greenwood County Undersheriff Dick Clark. “They took everything. They took phone lines, all the electrical lines, pulled them right out of the conduit. … It was out in a secluded area, which makes it an easy target.”
Clark said that the lines pulled down were “hot” and one of them may have started a grass fire a few months ago. The copper thefts have ranged from acid-injection pumps at oil wells, which contain copper, to traditional copper wires.
“Our most common thefts have been the wire,” Clark said. “We’ve had at least three incidents that I can think of off the top of my head, where electrical wire was taken from the poles on (oil) leases.”
“Those people, they don’t care,” Clark said. “Pull it down, roll it up and haul it off. Some have to burn off insulation” to get to the copper filaments.
Clark said that sheriff’s departments and police in the area have assigned officers to check regularly with recycling centers, and that some of the centers help by calling law enforcement with information about clients bringing in inexplicable amounts of copper.
Christian Fisher, regional manager of Galamba recycling company in Emporia and 15 other locations, said that his company works with law enforcement in any way it can.
“We get copies of driver’s licenses any time there’s somebody that has a suspicious amount of any kind of stuff ... We won’t even buy it if you don’t have a legitimate story and proper identification,” Fisher said. “If you’re not a contractor or don’t work for the phone company, you’re never going to have more than you tore out of your rental house or found out at your grandpa’s place.”
The price of copper approached $4 per pound in May, which was more than quadruple its price three years ago. The price has been in the $2 to $3 range in recent months, but the relatively modest drop has not deterred thieves in Emporia and the surrounding area.
“It’s a substantial a mount of money when you have 1,000 feet and some of that weighs a pound a foot,” Clark said.
Several area businessmen have experienced losses to copper thieves ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $7,000. They are uneasy about discussing their losses because of the potential for subsequent expensive thefts. Because of those circumstances, they have been allowed to speak anonymously for this story.
One frustrated businessman, whose loss was in excess of $7,000, attributed the theft to “methheads,” who, in his opinion, were responsible for his losses.
“The only thing they steal is copper and propane,” he said. “Ours was a cable and they cut it up … in like 6- or 8-foot sections. They take it somewhere and burn the insulation off it and take it in (to be recycled). There’s no way you can trace it. …
“People have to understand, there’s a market out there. It’s called supply and demand. They’re stealing it off (radio) towers” with ground lines containing copper.
“They can take copper into these recycling places and, hell, they just have to sign a name. They don’t take a picture of your driver’s license or anything,” he said.
In the metropolitan areas, he said, he has heard that construction companies have hired guards to watch homes under construction.
“The builders can’t leave the unfinished, unoccupied homes because the thieves will come and rip the copper out of them,” he said.
An oilman in the area has had motors stolen from his pumps and has welded down remaining motors with heavy chains to discourage thefts.
“What’s really maddening is that you have … $50 or $100 worth of copper stolen out of an electric motor that’s worth $2,000 to $3,000,” one of his friends said.
Another business has experienced multiple thefts of copper wiring when thieves cut through a fence and helped themselves to several thousand dollars’ worth of wire.
Some of the victims have added extra lights, stronger fence, barbed wire and even cameras in an effort to protect their livelihoods.
A paradox within the copper thefts outbreak is that Third World countries are not experiencing a similar phenomenon. Countries often considered to be economically depressed, such as South Africa, have bypassed using the expensive copper-filled communications cable and gone directly to wireless communications, according to Dave Kirk of Stutler Technologies.
Kirk said that, although Stutler has not been involved in the South African installations, others in the telecommunications industry have been helped by the copper thefts.
“They’ve got to go with the microwave systems,” he said.