A series of large thefts of copper from construction sites in the beach area has led local builders to appeal to city officials and police for help with stopping the streak of burglaries.
City Councilman Kevin Faulconer and Lt. Brian Ahearn from San Diego Police Department’s Northern Division acknowledged that local builders have offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of copper thieves who hit projects in Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and La Jolla.
Faulconer and Ahearn met on July 26 with local builders at a Pacific Beach project site on Mission Boulevard that had been hit twice last month ” first on July 4 followed by a July 22 theft.
Faulconer asked his staff to begin preparation steps for an ordinance that would require recyclers to make a record of IDs presented by people bringing in construction material scrap.
“This is getting out of hand,” Faulconer said. “We need to give the police some additional tools to investigate and stop these crimes.”
Ahearn described new technologies that cost less than $100 and can keep a record of photo IDs and people.
Local builders have also offered to buy the portable ID reader photo devices for recyclers.
The theft of tools and construction materials is a problem as old as the trade, but over the last few years the price of scrap copper has grown to its current level of $3.52 per pound. With the increase in price, copper theft has grown to become a national problem.
At the beach-area locations, the thieves have entered the construction sites at night, cutting out pipe and removing wires from walls after it has been installed.
Using a work truck, the thieves load up the stolen metal and are gone in a matter of minutes. Builders have estimated losses at up to $15,000.
At the Mission Boulevard site, witnesses described a group of four men wearing hardhats arriving in a truck with racks. Dressed like construction workers, witnesses assumed they were authorized to be on site at 6 a.m. on a Sunday.
Construction work is prohibited on Sundays by the city’s noise ordinance. The public is urged to watch for activity at construction sites during unusual hours.
Witnesses are asked to write down license plate numbers and take a photo if possible before contacting police.
Builders are taking special precautions such as asking plumbers and electricians to only bring materials to the site which they will use that day. But for jobs where more than units are being built, that isn’t always practical.
Builders have had mixed results with security guard services, alarms and night lighting. They are increasingly pressed to use closed-circuit TV systems or web-cams. Other technologies include GPS tracking devices hidden in supplies.