Aluminum and Copper Theft: Stealing for Scrap Metal

With Prices High, Thieves Have More Incentive Than Ever

As of early May 2006, nonferrous scrap metal price lists are valuing copper between $2.40 and $3.00 per pound, depending on quality. If you’re not familiar with the copper market, that's more than double most rates from 2003. Aluminum prices have also made steady gains. The demand for these metals around the world (especially in China) is driving prices to these new highs, but it’s also driving many Americans to aluminum and copper theft.

All around the country, people are stealing for scrap metal: telephone wires, air conditioner coils, and old radiators are just some of the sought-after items. Petty criminals have also resorted to stealing aluminum gutters and copper downspouts from schools and churches. And some folks have even had the aluminum siding ripped right off their houses by thieves.

While stealing for scrap metal is nothing new, the high prices have made thieves bolder and more inventive than before, as they now have over twice the financial incentive for the same amount of risk. Some drive pickup trucks while accomplices perform quick yank-and-runs with gutters in the middle of the night. Others deliberately pose as construction workers and target abandoned or otherwise vacant homes, figuring that neighbors won’t question why guys in hardhats are messing with radiators, gutters, or siding. But the thieves aren’t just targeting residential sources of aluminum and copper; they’re breaking into warehouses and other industrial settings too for bigger booty, if you will.