STRING OF LIGHT-POLE THEFTS AROUND THE CITY LEAVES OFFICIALS IN THE DARK --The Baltimore Sun
It is no simple matter -- not like swiping metal trash cans or lawn furniture -- to cut down and haul away a 30-foot-high aluminum light pole. It is conspicuous and dangerous. But about 130 of them have disappeared from Baltimore thoroughfares without a trace in recent weeks.
"I've been here 23 years, and I've seen just about everything," said Mike Decker, owner of Decker's Salvage Co. in Baltimore. "People will steal anything here." Decker and other local scrap-metal recyclers say they haven't come across any of the poles reported stolen over the past six weeks
Some judicious use of lead might halt the theft of the copper and aluminum.