City officials announced on Tuesday that 82 people had been arrested in a recent escalation of operations to crack down on an “increasing epidemic” of copper wire theft.
City Councilors Kevin de León and Traci Park credited their copper wire task force, known as the Heavy Metal Task Force, for the arrests and the 2,000 pounds of wire recovered. The task force was formed in late February in partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Street Lighting.
De Leon Communications Director Peter Brown said the effort is the “most proactive effort” to reduce theft of copper cables and telecommunications lines, which leaves mostly working-class neighborhoods without street lighting and internet service.
The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested 82 people and seized 2,000 pounds of stolen copper wire.
(Michael Blackshear/Los Angeles Times)
Standing next to recovered wires and saws, bolt cutters and drills used to strip metal from public infrastructure, de Leon said 60 of the 82 people arrested were being sought on felony charges.
“Our message to the criminals who are looting this city bit by bit is very clear: The city of Los Angeles is no longer your ATM machine,” de Leon said at a news conference on Tuesday, calling the outcome. “A major victory.”
Los Angeles Police Department Central Bureau Deputy Chief Michael Oreb said authorities have deployed 26 task force operations ranging from high-visibility patrols to undercover operations. At the site of Tuesday’s announcement, on East 16th Street near the intersection with Bart Street, police on Monday busted a wire-stripping group that would use the alley as a location to store stolen materials.
Oreb said thieves often recruit people with drug addictions to help carry out the scheme.
“They do it to fund their drug habit, and they target specific places where they know it’s easy to get wires and then bring it back to organizations that ultimately take it away and sell it for scrap,” Oreb said.
A diagram showing stolen copper wire was shown at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
(Michael Blackshear/Los Angeles Times)
Authorities also seized nine firearms and are investigating “suspicious activity” at scrap yards, recycling centers and other facilities that receive stolen wires.
Most of the stolen wires were found in RVs, which Parker said were used to “provide cover and shelter for these criminal acts.”
“As we battle a real homelessness emergency in Los Angeles, it is highly anomalous that copper wire thieves are taking advantage of the situation by using RVs to house and further their crimes,” she said.
Both Parker and DeLeon emphasized that copper wire theft is not a “victimless crime,” challenging arguments made during the February City Council meeting that voted on the task force.
Councilors Eunice Hernandez and Hugo Soto Martinez voted against the motion, which passed 13-2, saying there should be more emphasis on preventive efforts rather than punitive efforts. .
He said Tuesday that the task force will receive an additional $200,000 in funding from the De Leon district “due to the theft of items other than copper wire.”
De Leon and Parker also introduced two motions Tuesday to continue the effort, including one directing the Street Lighting Authority to mark its copper wiring as city property.
Copper wire theft leaves neighborhoods with inadequate street lighting.
(Michael Blackshear/Los Angeles Times)
Another motion asked the city attorney. Hydee Feldstein Soto drafted an ordinance that would ban any person or business not affiliated with a telecommunications company from owning telecommunications cables.
According to the motion, the cables were stolen, burned or melted down, exposing the copper wires and then sold to metal recyclers, leaving communities without access to data services.
“We’re trying to send a message out there – think before you leap, because if we do use [stolen wires]you’re going to be in big trouble,” De Leon said.
