Police hope new law will slow down copper thefts


New laws on the buying and selling of copper are designed to crack down on copper thefts.

Now, anyone who sells copper to recyclers or scrap yards must show I.D.

Buyers are required to keep records, including the seller's car description and tag.

Law enforcement agencies hope to see fewer copper theft cases because of the new law.

Violators face up to ten-thousand dollars in fines and up to two years in jail.

Buyers face up to five-thousand dollars in fines for failure to keep complete records.

Good lord,
How could you recycled, without the prospect of being rounded up because of these copper thiefs, and a honest person has to write down where and when and how he comes by with it.
Before you know it ,soft drinks will just get emptied for the metal. =}

A law alone is PR. Some investigation and enforcement would be nice. All of the ones I've sold to require identification anyway. How about being required to obtain a recyclers business license for any quantities over normal household? Include drug testing and a criminal background check for that too.

Please - this law is not going to stop copper thefts.

Recyclers already require ID. An ID and car tag prove nothing and deter even less.

Unless the person is seen stealing the copper this was all a waste of time.

Pawn shops have for years required ID and for the person to say how long they have owned the item. The items serial number is even recorded. Yet, with all those measures, people routinely pawn stolen items daily.

This idea certainly does not need to catch on - Many honest, hardworking people supplement thier income by collecting scrap metal other have placed on the curb for "big junk" pickup days. A license for a person willing to amass enough scrap iron at $0.03 per 100 lbs is too much beauracracy (sp)

I say if you are a convicted felon then you can't sell copper, converters or other high theft items. Soda cans and truly scrap metal would be okay.