Posted on 10/01/2007 4:18:52 PM PDT by BBell
Police struggle to stop post-Katrina looters who are cashing in on rising copper prices at the expense of rebuilders
On a hot weekday morning, as the city starts to wake, the line at a bustling downtown scrap metal yard stretches six people deep. Machines whir in the background, dust clogs the air, and a forklift loaded with dented building downspouts darts about. Squares of squished metal line the barn-type building like bales of hay.
The men in line are a motley mix of anxious opportunists. Some in construction boots and tool belts come to the recycling center in sleek pickup trucks. Some in too-big basketball shoes riddled with holes come by on bicycles or push grocery carts.
Each man carries copper for sale.
With prices for salvaged metals soaring, the sale of copper has become big business across the country, with bits and pieces bought and sold for about $2 and $3 per pound. The common metal used to plate pennies can be found everywhere: in pipes in homes, in electrical wiring, in air-conditioning units.
And it is that teeming business that police say is sparking a tidal wave of property crimes. The number of copper-related thefts in New Orleans this year is through the roof, especially in the city's flood-ravaged regions. Businesses, schools, a synagogue, countless affluent homes and demolished houses all have been stripped -- some several times -- by sticky-fingered freelancers.
State legislators and local leaders across the country have taken notice and are pushing proposals to tighten restrictions on scrap metal recyclers.
City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who represents eastern New Orleans, has proposed several ordinances to tighten restrictions on sales. "We're not trying to stop legitimate economic development; we're trying to stop crime," she said.
Copper theft has hit rebuilding sections of the city especially
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
IMHO, anyone ripping copper wiring and pipes out of homes that are in process of rebuilding, are in the same category as horse thieves in bygone times.
developments get this all the time.
A plumbing truck gets followed like seagulls with a fishing boat.
When the plumber leaves the develpment site at night, the go in and remove all the metal.
Believe it or not, this is a huge problem in Minnesota. They’re carrying battery powered sawz-alls or saber saws with metal blades, cutting catalytic converters off of parked cars....
It’s like subsaharan Africa right here in our own country.
Meanwhile in Iraq. Rebuilding efforts are moving right along contrary to popular liberal lies the Iraqi people are enjoying more water and electricity supplies than ever before. Yet the losers in Louisiana steal everything that is given to them by our tax dollars. I guess that proves why some stayed when they were told well in advance to evacuate. Lets put an end to rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and let it flush out to sea as God intended. Years from now the former city can be used as a giant dog park.
And when the thieves get shocked they probably sue the homeowners.
The copper is valuable.
these kind of idiots are pulling this crap in the Youngstown OH area-going into abandoned steel mills and trying to steal the copper wiring-in a number of cases the power is still on ZAP-there goes another fried criminal. Oh well-a little chlorine in the gene pool.
It’s true. My son was part of Task Force Gator with the National Guard in N.O. last year. He and his partner busted a guy who’d come down here all the way from Pennsylvania! They caught this guy red-handed with loads of stolen copper in his van.
Here where I am in California they're stealing tailgates off of pickups...not for scrap, but they sell them to pick-and-pull for a few dollars but then they'll cost you upwards of $1200 to replace.
Profession: scrap bandit
That’s why I finally bought a truck with a locking tailgate. It won’t stop the most desperate, but it will slow them down......
That’s been happening here too. Around here it’s mostly meth heads.
Similar things have happened. After couple of copper boosters were fried by a transformer they were trying too lift, families sued because there were no warning signs posted. Any judge worth his salt would say" Get the Hell out of my courtroom!"
this happened to me. So the next time, I put in PEX - plastic. The only thing copper are the fittings.
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