Dogman
20th November 2010, 12:52 PM
Damper on thieves.
We have had a lot of this going on in my area.
By JIMMY ISAAC jisaac@news-journal.com | 0 comments
Copper thefts in Longview have decreased by nearly one-third since the City Council amended local metal recycling laws, authorities report.
On April 10, the city began requiring metal recyclers to fingerprint and record transactions of all copper, platinum and other metals. The law also requires recyclers to pay the customers by a mailed check and to hold the metal for at least five days before it is resold or altered.
Reports of copper thefts in Longview dropped 32.5 percent in the six months after the new law, as compared to the six months before it was enacted.
Statistics show between Oct. 11, 2009, and April 10, 2010, 77 copper thefts were reported; from April 11 to Oct. 11 this year, 52 copper thefts were reported.
"Since the copper ordinance was enacted by the City Council in April, none of the city of Longview buildings or properties have experienced any copper thefts," said Mary Ann Miller, assistant to the city manager.
Before amending its ordinances, the city experienced a rash of thefts. During the 2009 Christmas break, thieves stole about $7,000 in copper tubing from Longview Public Library air-conditioning units. In October 2009, former Mayor Murray Moore reported copper thefts at his new CPU Wholesale Computer Parts store on East Loop 281.
No arrest were made in either case.
And metal recyclers were not immune from theft. In July 2009, three men were arrested for trying to steal about 250 pounds, or $4,600 worth, of copper from Longview Scrap and Metal.
On Friday, Longview Scrap and Metal owner Sidney Allen said he has noticed the drop in copper thefts since the ordinances were amended.
Allen, a City Council member, abstained from discussions and the vote on the issue because he is a state-licensed metal recycler.
"We think it's fine," Allen said. "We think the customers are getting used to it."
Allen said some customers have said they are taking their business to other recyclers where they can get paid more quickly. Kilgore Recycling advertised in Friday's newspaper that customers can bring their copper or other metals to its Rusk County business and get paid the same day.
Gregg County commissioners enacted a metal recycling ordinance one month after the city of Longview, but no such law exists in Rusk County.
"That's the biggest problem," Allen said.
Rusk County Commissioner Bill Hale, who serves the Kilgore area in Precinct 1, said no metal recycling ordinance has come before the court. In talking with Rusk County's chief deputy sheriff, it appears that local law enforcement pressure on metal thefts have shifted criminals to stealing batteries, Hale said.
"Once you kind of put pressure on them stealing one thing, they go to something else," Hale said. "It's kind of an ever-changing world."
http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/article_7fcccba3-fa1f-5d85-aa6b-e6c7e70bd536.html
(http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/article_7fcccba3-fa1f-5d85-aa6b-e6c7e70bd536.html)
We have had a lot of this going on in my area.
By JIMMY ISAAC jisaac@news-journal.com | 0 comments
Copper thefts in Longview have decreased by nearly one-third since the City Council amended local metal recycling laws, authorities report.
On April 10, the city began requiring metal recyclers to fingerprint and record transactions of all copper, platinum and other metals. The law also requires recyclers to pay the customers by a mailed check and to hold the metal for at least five days before it is resold or altered.
Reports of copper thefts in Longview dropped 32.5 percent in the six months after the new law, as compared to the six months before it was enacted.
Statistics show between Oct. 11, 2009, and April 10, 2010, 77 copper thefts were reported; from April 11 to Oct. 11 this year, 52 copper thefts were reported.
"Since the copper ordinance was enacted by the City Council in April, none of the city of Longview buildings or properties have experienced any copper thefts," said Mary Ann Miller, assistant to the city manager.
Before amending its ordinances, the city experienced a rash of thefts. During the 2009 Christmas break, thieves stole about $7,000 in copper tubing from Longview Public Library air-conditioning units. In October 2009, former Mayor Murray Moore reported copper thefts at his new CPU Wholesale Computer Parts store on East Loop 281.
No arrest were made in either case.
And metal recyclers were not immune from theft. In July 2009, three men were arrested for trying to steal about 250 pounds, or $4,600 worth, of copper from Longview Scrap and Metal.
On Friday, Longview Scrap and Metal owner Sidney Allen said he has noticed the drop in copper thefts since the ordinances were amended.
Allen, a City Council member, abstained from discussions and the vote on the issue because he is a state-licensed metal recycler.
"We think it's fine," Allen said. "We think the customers are getting used to it."
Allen said some customers have said they are taking their business to other recyclers where they can get paid more quickly. Kilgore Recycling advertised in Friday's newspaper that customers can bring their copper or other metals to its Rusk County business and get paid the same day.
Gregg County commissioners enacted a metal recycling ordinance one month after the city of Longview, but no such law exists in Rusk County.
"That's the biggest problem," Allen said.
Rusk County Commissioner Bill Hale, who serves the Kilgore area in Precinct 1, said no metal recycling ordinance has come before the court. In talking with Rusk County's chief deputy sheriff, it appears that local law enforcement pressure on metal thefts have shifted criminals to stealing batteries, Hale said.
"Once you kind of put pressure on them stealing one thing, they go to something else," Hale said. "It's kind of an ever-changing world."
http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/article_7fcccba3-fa1f-5d85-aa6b-e6c7e70bd536.html
(http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/article_7fcccba3-fa1f-5d85-aa6b-e6c7e70bd536.html)