Here’s bad news for sneaky crooks who’ve been stealing copper wiring from local baseball and soccer fields — and even taking bronze funeral vases from gravesites — and hauling it all off to scrap-metal buyers in Portland for quick cash.
In a New Year’s gift from the Oregon Legislature, a law that took effect Friday forbids scrap-metal buyers across the river from paying cash on the day of the transaction.
Instead, Oregon scrap-metal buyers must now wait three business days and mail a nontransferable check to the seller’s address.
That may be a nice prize for Clark County ballplayers, construction companies, home builders and police — not to mention the taxpayers who have paid the heavy price of theft of valuable metals from government agencies such as the Bonneville Power Administration.
Police figure that metal thieves, typically hooked on methamphetamine, need the instant gratification of same-day cash — and that illegal drug users won’t like the idea of a check sent to an address, which means a paper trail leading to them.
As a result, police say, Oregon’s new law could mean less metal theft in Clark County in 2010 and beyond.
“This is a much-needed change that was long overdue,” Vancouver Police Department Officer Jim Watson said Thursday.
Long-sought shift
Police detectives on both sides of the Columbia River have been asking Oregon lawmakers to make the change for years.
In 2007, when Watson was a police detective going after metal thieves, he and Portland Police Bureau Detective Mark Georgioff told The Columbian that metal stolen in Clark County was typically sold to scrap dealers in Portland.
That’s because Washington’s law was made stricter in 2007 to bar payment in same-day cash. Scrap buyers in Washington must wait 10 days before mailing a check.
Now, police think, both states have enacted what may be a legal checkmate against many local thieves.
“The change in Oregon law should actually have a greater impact on Clark County than the change in Washington law did,” Watson said.
Oregon’s new law also has other provisions to fight meth-fueled metal theft.
Scrap-metal dealers had previously been required to keep records of sales, but the new law adds more reporting requirements.
In addition, scrap dealers must notify police within 24 hours of buying metal they suspect may have been stolen. That includes wire that has been burned or cut to remove the insulation, unless the seller has proper ownership documentation.
Thieves who made off with new wiring in good condition often burn, cut or strip it to make it look like salvage before selling.
Within Oregon, haulers are now required to obtain metal-transportation certificates from the Oregon State Police. Oregon haulers who fail to obtain the certificate can be found guilty of unlawfully transporting metal property — a misdemeanor crime — and fined up to $1,250 and sentenced to up to 30 days in jail.
Heyday of metal theft
Metal theft peaked in Clark County around 2006 and 2007, when global demand and scrap prices soared.
Any metals, but especially copper, aluminum and the rare metals found in vehicles’ catalytic converters, were in the crosshairs for thieves, anywhere, anytime.
In October 2006, firefighters found a man’s body burning inside a fenced-off live Clark Public Utilities power station near La Center; officials said he was killed while trying to steal wiring.
Thieves took copper wiring and copper tubing that cost thousands of dollars from buildings, storage lots and construction sites and, in 2006, took heavy brass or bronze vases worth $12,000 from 40 graves in Vancouver.
Two men drew three-year prison sentences for carving up a longtime Ridgefield family’s highly valued antique farm machinery collection and trying to sell 40 of the radiators.
The loss of the stolen property typically cost the owners far more than what thieves could get by selling it for scrap.
As the recession tightened its grip, scrap prices fell early last year. But prices more recently have climbed and several cases were reported in Clark County in 2009.
As recently as Dec. 22, police found a backpack containing 100 pounds of copper wire abandoned at David Douglas Park. Someone had pulled it from the lighting systems of two baseball fields and fled when someone saw him, Vancouver police said.
Metal thieves struck at Harmony Sports Complex twice last year, most recently on Dec. 5, removing field light wiring and causing at least $15,000 in damage, according to The Columbian’s files.
John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.
