a u t h o r Kirstin Linnenkoper
38
Crime units chasing
bolder, more violent
scrap thieves
attractive prices for scrap metal, especially copper and platinum group metals,
have seen the number of thefts go up around the world. Security cameras and
anti-theft hotlines have become part of the daily lives of recycling players. one
trend that stands out is worrying: scrap thieves are getting ever more audacious.
reviewed a total of 5 904 insurance
claims for metal theft between 1
January 2017 and 31 December 2018.
They point out that 95% involved cop-
per theft.
Top 5 ThefT hoTspoTs
The most incidents of metal theft
occurred in New Jersey (570),
Pennsylvania (488), Ohio (410), New
York (405) and Illinois (333). When
ranked by the number of claims per
100 000 in population, the top five
were Connecticut (14), New Jersey
(12), Rhode Island (11), Delaware (9),
and Maryland (7).
Meanwhile, the top five ‘core-based
statistical’ (metropolitan) areas were:
New York-Newark-Jersey City (415),
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
(408), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (272),
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson (166) and
Cleveland-Elyria (123).
A total of 444 (8%) of metal theft
claims were either outside core-based
statistical areas or did not provide
enough data to be included in the
overview.
Copperheads arresT 90
Thieves
South Africa’s dedicated
‘Copperheads’ crime task force arrest-
ed 90 suspected metal thieves in the
Cape Town area during 2018.
A further 22 arrests have been made
in the first quarter of the current finan-
cial year, according to Cape Town
mayor Dan Plato. Stolen material con-
fiscated by police officers includes
665 metres of copper cable weighing
The US witnessed a 4% drop in metal
thefts last year, according to new fig-
ures from the National Insurance
Crime Bureau (NICB). A total of 2887
thefts were registered by authorities
in 2018, compared with 3017 claims
the previous year. NICB analysts
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