Re: Vandals target National Packard Museum, put collections at risk

Posted by HH56 On 2017/12/6 11:00:26

Yes that is a shame and I hope they catch them but wouldn't hold my breath unless the crooks are stupid when they go to the recycler.

Copper theft --actually a lot of metals -- is a big problem here too. ACs and electrical wire are the main targets. Vacant houses are fair game and one rural school district has been hit with wiring theft many times. Traffic and streetlights are the city targets. It is so prevalent the city now has a program to cement and weld up as many wiring access points as possible to prevent the thieves from opening a panel, tying something around the wires and hooking it up to their vehicle to pull out several hundred feet at a time. Hard to open access slows them down a bit but hasn't really discouraged them. Once they have the wire it is taken to a remote location, set afire to burn the insulation off and then compress the remaining copper items into a mass.

Recyclers are the big problem because until the city started cracking down local recyclers ask few questions on where the metal was coming from and required no ID of the seller. Unfortunately a recycler in another town still may not care.