Stripping (Part 1)

Not the good kind. It's copper as predicted in Scorched Earth Policy.

From WCCO in Minnesota, we have Lawmakers Working To Cut Down Copper Stripping.

State legislators in both houses are working on new laws to cut down on copper stripping. It is the epidemic of thieves stealing industrial metal from vacant homes. Law enforcement says it is a public safety issue and needs help from the Capitol.

With 400 vacant houses in Minneapolis, police want to stop thieves who are stripping out copper wiring and piping. There have already been 115 that have been stripped. And at least four houses blew up when gas from a stripped pipe ignited. Police want lawmakers to fight back.

And from sunny San Diego, we have Copper thieves preying on schools.

Copper thieves are hitting East County schools – hard.

At least 10 schools and district facilities have been struck, some repeatedly, since December, officials said.

“Any copper is what they're looking for,” said Bob Kiesling, director of facilities for the Grossmont Union High School District, where five campuses have been vandalized.

From Las Vegas, we have 'Scrapping' for copper, other metals, helps feed meth habit.

Rising prices for copper are making the once lowly metal a target for thieves, who hit construction sites and abandoned buildings for the element, often to feed methamphetamine habits.

"Scrapping," as meth addicts call it, involves stripping copper and other metals from utility poles, pipes in empty buildings and materials at construction sites.

"It's such quick money, and there are so many places to steal from," Reno police Lt. Jon Catalano said. "They just cut it in pieces and stuff it in their backpacks."

From Arizona: Copper, metal thieves targeted in Mesa campaign.

A recent spree in theft of copper, brass and aluminum from construction sites, farms and businesses around the Valley.

The solution: Paint metal to reduce its value or cage and lock metal units.

These are the suggestions by Mesa's newly implemented "Stop the Metal-ing In Mesa" campaign, raising awareness of the crime.

From Tennessee: Copper theft causes fire.

It appears to be easy to steal and easy to sell and thieves stripping copper from air conditioning units are costing area businesses big time. Thursday fire fighters responded to a fire at the Winchester Office Plaza after someone turned on an air conditioning unit that had been vandalized.

In the last two months the Winchester Office Plaza has been hit three times by thieves stripping air condition units for copper and yesterday their handy work led to a fire in a beauty shop in the complex. Managers of the complex say thieves who vandalized one unit clipped the wires to another. They say Thursday when someone turned on the air conditioning loose wires in the wall sparked a fire.

"We had went to lunch and we had just finished up lunch and started smelling some smoke thru the air vents," said Tina Chism, who works in the plaza.

And just so we are clear, this is global. From Leeds in the UK: Thieves in the night target copper.

THIEVES are stealing copper gas pipes from homes while residents are asleep.

The criminals have targeted dozens of houses on a Leeds estate, leaving families without heating or the means to cook.

Victims have included a 77-year-old woman who is now terrified the thieves will return, and a mum of two-year-old twins who was left without central heating.

"We woke up in the morning and the house was freezing," said the mother, who did not want to be named.

"At first we thought the pilot light was out but when I went outside I realised all the piping had gone overnight.