PUSH ON TO STOP COPPER-WIRE THEFT FARMERS, AUTHORITIES URGE CRACKDOWN VIA LOCAL LAWS.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN

Staff Writer

A coalition of farmers and law-enforcement officials is making a statewide push for local ordinances aimed at cracking down on metal theft, a fast-growing crime that in recent years has hit farmers and utility companies especially hard.

The California Farm Bureau Federation and the California State Sheriffs' Association want lawmakers to regulate scrap-metal dealers and recyclers, who pay cash for the metals -- no questions asked.

Of particular concern to law enforcement is copper wire, which recyclers covet. Farmers who use copper wire in irrigation systems and utility companies are especially vulnerable, said Kern County Sgt. Walter Reed, who investigates copper-wire theft in the Central and Antelope valleys.

Proponents of city and county ordinances say regulation of record-keeping and payments would deter metal thefts. Proposals include requiring recyclers to pay by checks, not cash, that would leave a paper trail for law enforcement to follow.

"We have to have some way of regulating who's bringing in this copper. If we don't, it just makes it that much harder to arrest the people who are stealing it," Reed said.

The ordinance proposals are modeled after a statewide bill that stalled in the Assembly.

"We preferred the statewide solution contained in AB844, but we can't afford to wait," California Farm Bureau President Doug Mosebar said in a prepared statement. "Every county or city containing a scrap-metal dealer should enact these crucial reforms."

Prices for copper wire have increased amid heightened demand from parts of Asia, Reed said, noting that copper is selling at 17-year highs.

Metal thieves easily operate below law enforcement radar, Reed said, stealing wire from rural areas in the cover of night.

Copper-wire theft results in power outages and losses to farmers, who desperately rely on irrigation systems to keep crops alive during the hot summer months, Reed said.

The crime has grown so pervasive in parts of Tulare County that farmers often wait up to a month for the services of backlogged irrigation repair firms, Reed said.

Since law enforcement has cracked down on Central Valley recyclers, thieves are increasingly bringing stolen copper wire to the Antelope Valley, he said.

Authorities are targeting Antelope Valley recyclers in Los Angeles County. Undercover agents who sold copper wire to an Antelope Valley recycler said the metal dealer did not seem interested in the merchandise's origin, saying only that the seller could get a higher price if the wire was on a spool, according to Reed.

"He never asked where we got it," Reed said. "He was encouraging us to bring more."

He did not identify the recycler because the investigation was ongoing. But he said the case underscores the need for lawmakers to regulate recyclers statewide.

"If I can't turn (copper wire) into easy cash, then I'm not going to want to take it," Reed said.

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