Thieves stole my neighbors Electrical Lines

[WayneB]

Wow Eddie that is really a tough one. Hope his insurance covers the lost, but most importantly would be to catch them. Must be hard thinking they could return for other things on other peoples property?

Around here they found two guys fried last month in an old industrial building. They had gone in to get the copper wire. They were using bolt cutters and crossed over the hots and the 3 phase 460 was still hot. The rest is history.

 

[greenthumb]

"Around here they found two guys fried last month in an old industrial building. They had gone in to get the copper wire. They were using bolt cutters and crossed over the hots and the 3 phase 460 was still hot. The rest is history."

Darwin would be proud

 

[YanmarFever]

Here in Oregon, they steal the guard railings off the sharp corners and the ones over bridges are aluminum !!!

We installed 2 security cameras that record 24-7 on a hard drive with internet access. Its nice to see our place when we are gone.

Im with soundguy on using steel, to protect your steel, from the stealers

Ernie

 

[firedog]

Copper theft has become a big issue in these parts. Recently in Chambers Co. several thousand dollars worth of phone cable was stolen leaving a wide spread area without service. Small businesses have suffered not only the loss of electrical service but also A/C condenser unit stripped of the aluminum and/or copper, including a local church. Theives target places that are not monitored or staffed 24/7.
Those few that have been caught sold the goods to recycle dealers for crack money.
We've been after local authorities to go after the recycle places because its just too hard to catch these petty criminals.

 

[sseelhoff]

Same problem here in North Texas. They have been stealing the wiring out of lights along the highway, A/C units at schools and churches, just about anywhere there is copper or aluminum wiring. When we had electric put in on our property outside of town, the Co-Op wouldn't install the poles and run to the meter unless we were present They advised us not to put the meter pole up until they were on-site-They were concerned about someone stealing our meter box before they could run the line and did not want to be responsible for the theft. I guess they figured once it was hooked up, it became our problem.

 

[mjarrels]

I remember about 20 + years ago when new Navy housing was being built in the Philippines and the copper wire and pipe disapeared about as fast as it went in... probably the same crew that installed it came back that night and removed it?

mark

 

[George2615]

Yes, the theft rate is going up here also with the poor economy. Just last Friday at work we had someone steal 2 big aluminum loading dock plates. We usually keep them handy on the dock for truckers to use to unload. The police checked on Monday and found them at a local scrap yard. Seems the crook needed a few bucks, stole them and scrapped them. He got 80 bucks. The sad part for him was that all local scrap yards here photocopy your drivers license when you bring something in and keep it with their records. The police picked up the thief Monday afternoon.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

I don't think it's the economy driving up the theft rate, I think it's the price scrap is bringing. If copper was 25 cents a pound, there would be no copper theft, economy or not. Theives don't pay attention to the economy.

There's nothing like a good camera system. Soundguy is right, but all the firepower in the world wouldn't have helped Eddie's neighbor's situation.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I called the cops on a guy who was walking a shopping cart down the road in brad daylight ( overloaded) with heavy wire he just pulled from somewhere/

A business I deal with just had 100k worth of movie studio cable stolen from a container where they store it.

 

[chh]

A local gas well service company near me just had a full spool of steel sheathed copper wire and the spool trailer stolen from the office yard. They know it was an inside job because whoever did it had the gate code to get in. The sheriff's dept. took the report and that was it. They wouldn't even call the local scrap yards. The company now had a new camera system and a different gate entry system. This was the second time they have been hit in 6 months. The first hit prompted the fist gate setup. Up until then anyone could drive into the yard 24/7. Theft had been a very minor problem.

People steal because they choose to steal. It has nothing to do with the economy. Metals are the "in" thing to steal now because they are high and the odds of getting caught aren't very high.