Heavy Metal

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 26, 2008 7:40PM

Chicago police have an old problem on their hands this holiday season: metal theft. A combination of rising copper and aluminum prices and the declining economy has created an increase in the theft of these metals especially. Thieves are stealing everything from sewer covers to the wiring inside gas meters and trying to cash them in at city scrap metal facilities. Many of these types of thefts cause serious safety hazards. Bonnie Johnson of People's Gas said, "The mouth (of the meter) that's going into the home is no longer controlled which could cause a gas explosion." The CPD has created a task force and a public service announcement notifying Chicagoans and asking for our help – and scrap metal recyclers have been warned not to take sewer covers and fire hydrants in exchange for cash, or they will incur a hefty fine.

"That's been the age-old problem," Deputy Chief Daniel Dugan said. "You would see scrappers taking fire hydrants. You should know this is property belonging to a municipality."

New fines could cost recyclers who take prohibited material $1,000 per illegal transaction and up to a year in jail. Police say the best defense may be people watching out for wire thieves in their own neighborhoods.

Now, obviously metal theft – and theft of any kind – is wrong, but if a thief is able to separate a metal fire hydrant from its concrete base and transport its cumbersome-ness to a scrap metal recycler, doesn’t that deserve some type of credit?

Post by Amy Wilschke, Image via our friends at Houstonist