Copper Vandals

The price of copper is nearly double what it was last year. And 2005 was the highest price for copper in nearly a decade. And it's costing Detroit more than a few pennies (okay, I apoligize for the pun).

In the past weeks the City of Detroit has sustained around $1 million in property damage. Vandals are targeting all sorts of copper products: electrical wires, air conditioning units, exposed pipes, vases from graveyards, sewer grates, and church bells. The completely recycalable metal is being purcased by scrapyards for anywhere from $0.90 to $3.30 per pound (depending on the yard and the condition of the scrap). For the unemployed, homeless, and destitute stealing copper is a profitable enterprise.

However, it has become increasingly dangerous. Attempted thefts of live wire have accounted for three deaths in Detroit and four more round the nation. It seems as though people are going to even more dangerous lengths to retrieve copper. In Detroit these scrapyard bounty hunters are raiding consruction sites and tearing down utility lines just to get their hands on this now-precious metal.