Skyrocketing prices make metals too attractive

Staff -- Purchasing, 5/4/2006

As prices of nonferrous metals soar to record highs this year, police nationwide are reporting a rise in the theft of copper, aluminum, zinc and other nonsteel metals. In just one week in April, thieves made off with $4,000 worth of aluminum bleachers—enough seating for 100 people—from youth baseball diamonds in Lorain, Ohio; a group of nearly 20 thieves tried to steal scrap copper metal from an abandoned Gates Rubber building in Denver, and thieves in Lynn, Mass., made off with brass plaques—some of them 100 years old—honoring the sacrifices of Revolutionary War soldiers. Weather Guard Building Products in Denver took a heavy hit when former and current employees were smuggling copper and aluminum coils out of the building in the trash. Police arrested two men attempting to steal aluminum forms from a business in Waukesha, Wis. Police in Oregon says the theft of copper and metals from construction sites has hit an all-time high this spring. So, a Construction Industry Crime Prevention Program has teamed with that state's law enforcement to promote increased security at construction sites. Electric utilities throughout the Midwest report coils of copper wire and cable being carted off.