Copper Thieves Targeting Dallas Schools

[Home Guy]

It's sad watching the USA eat itself from the inside...

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) ? Campuses in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) have been the repeated victims of copper thieves.

The district has suffered thousands of dollars in damage, as a result of the thefts.

?Included in those [thefts] are gonna be some HVAC units,? explained DISD police chief Craig Miller. ?And two HVAC units were damaged and that?s $37,000 apiece, so it gets to be very expensive.?

In the month of November alone, copper thieves targeted nine schools.

The school district has released surveillance video from Peeler Elementary School that shows two men removing copper piping from the plumbing system.

Miller said there is a two-prong investigation ? trying to find out who is stealing the copper and also who is buying it. ?Recently, there was

200 feet of copper that was taken and there?s obviously a market in metal recycling where this product is sold.?

Copper theft isn?t the only problem facing the Dallas ISD. Over the past month, there have been 41 campus break-ins. Thieves are stealing computers, and other equipment.

During the next month or so, the DISD is taking special steps to guard schools. ?Each of the Dallas police department investigative units/substations has a copper metal theft [division] and we?re working with them on this,? said Miller. ?I mean obviously we?re gonna have a task force that goes on during the holidays.?

[JimT]

Could have fooled me.

I think you and harry get a kick out of running down the US.

The part neither of you seem to understand is you're reading or watching the sensationalized 24/7 news that enjoys it as much as you do.

I think Bill Hicks said it best:

Jim

[George]

Too bad you and Harry don't get out of your basements and look around instead of continuing to make yourself look really really silly:

"Prior to the economic slowdown, metal theft occurrences skyrocketed across North America. Strong demand in growing economies such as India and China resulted in high prices for these metals throughout the world and fuelled a wide scrap-metal black market throughout Canada and the United States. Individuals and organized criminals targeted virtually anything containing any precious metals, with copper being the most sought-after metal...."

"Metal thieves show no respect for war dead

Plaque has been stolen four times

By ANNE SUTHERLAND, The Gazette March 30, 2011

MONTREAL - It's a simple stone marker, a little bigger than a tombstone.

It was placed in Lachine to honour those who died in The Great War, the First World War.

The names of the boys from the neighbourhood who died in battle between

1914 and 1918 were inscribed on a metal plate affixed to the stone. The inscription lists the Dixie Roll of Honour, named after an old Lachine neighbouhood.

That plate has been stolen four times. The high price of bronze and other metals seems to be the drawing card for the repeat thievery.

The last time anyone remembers seeing the plaque in place was at last fall's Remembrance Day ceremonies. "

[George]

I think they are just two immature folks who don't understand that you never build yourself up by tearing someone else down...

[Home Guy]

We'd like to see you get your shit together. Sometime it helps to point out your flaws to you, because you have a tendency to not see them.

Immature? Tearing someone else down?

I don't make up these stories out of thin air.

It's immature to be shooting the messenger.

You're tearing yourselves down as a country, one city, one neighborhood at a time.

Literally.

[Home Guy]

That little bit that you quoted from that link is really vague about details and stats on actual metal theft in canada.

The truth is that there simply is not a rash of theft of power lines, cemetary and memorial fixtures / plates, statues, manhole covers, copper gutters, metal infrastructure from rental units, and AC units in Canada.

It's not clear that plaque is being stolen because of it's metal content. Apparently it was replaced with one made of wood - and someone stole that one too.

[JimT]

That little bit that you quoted from that link is really vague about

OMG! Do something! Your nation is crumbling.

Believe it or not, this is how silly you sound.

Jim

[George]

Home guy is from Canada . And in home guys home country of Canada they have such a rampant and common problem with theft of metals in Canada they they use the slang expression "urban mining":

"Thieves are breaking into abandoned Richmond residences to steal valuable metals such as copper and aluminum, RCMP said on Tuesday.

It's so common it's called urban mining.

The thieves break into empty homes and take copper pipe and wiring, radiators, appliances and aluminum-framed doors and windows for the metal to sell to scrapyards.

"The price of copper right now is very good and it's expected to rise, so it's getting to become more lucrative for the thieves," said Richmond RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Sherrdean Turley."

[Home Guy]

So here's the backstory on that.

This is in Richmond BC. The city wants to change the way the province assesses property value and type for tax purposes. Currently, a property owner would likely pay a lot more in tax if they knocked down an old / abandoned house vs just leaving it standing. So they leave it standing.

And homeless people break in to live in them.

And sometimes they catch on fire, or get taken apart for metal. Possibly by their owners(!).

Abandoned homes being stripped of copper? Ok, it happens. In both our countries.

But please, continue with your research.

I'd especially like to hear about cases in Canada where live power lines were ripped from telephone poles, or where power sub-stations were broken into and whole neighborhoods de-energized because large cables were cut, or street lights / poles stolen, or residential / church / commercial air-conditioning units stolen in the middle of the night, or copper gutters / flashing ripped from homes or historical buildings, or sections of railway rails stolen, or cars stolen just for scrap, or cemeteries emptied of bronze urns, or roof-mounted wind vanes stolen in broad daylight.

[George]

You may want to ask around but there are multiple ways to view things. A normal person who can see the big picture can look at all of the elements of anything and declare it is mostly good or not. Another person who is unable to see the big picture will act as you do.

So where are these positive posts you write about the US?

No, you carefully look for stories that point out the bad side of things. I used to work with a troubled soul like you who could only see the bad side. If something were 99.9% good it was certain he couldn't see that but only focus on the last 0.1%. The joke in our office was that if it was free ice cream day "Bob" would be the only one to complain that sprinkles weren't included.

Just pointing out that you lack balance and really make yourself look silly.

[George]

So Canada has a screwed up government too? Thanks for pointing that out.

Homeless people? In CANADA? How could that happen in such a perfect place?

Finally a common sense response. All places have one sort of issue or another.

[ChairMan]

.

Street lights near Bedford Bypass latest area targeted

In Quebec, during May 2006, thieves stole sections of copper roofing, gutters and wiring from four Quebec city churches, two being St. Charles de Limoilou and St. Francois d'Assise. The thieves were discovered in action on their third night, whereupon they fled. High copper prices are believed to be the reason for the thefts. Repairs were expected to cost more than $40,000.[13]

In October 2010, a 400 pound bronze bell was stolen in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia. Thieves removed the bell from a monument in Roseway Cemetery.[14] The bell was part of the Roseway United Memorial Church, built in 1912, until it was demolished in 1993. It was recovered in a Halifax-area scrapyard October 6.[15]

Copper Theft Increases at Ontario Power Stations Metal theft prevalent worldwide

Hydro facilities across Canada have been especially hard hit. Hydro One, Ontario's electricity provider, has been the target of a growing number of thefts, from an average of 10 per month six months ago to 16 per month this summer.

Last weekend a young male was badly burned in Toronto while allegedly attempting to steal copper from a transformer station.

And lots more

So you were saying?

[Robert Green]

He is a CANADIAN! That should be enough for you, American miscreant!!!! (-:

We owe much to Canada. In 1890, Canadian Herman Hollerith invented the tabulating machine, precursor of the computer. No, wait, he was an American . . .

The next year, Canadian inventor Whitcomb Judson invented the zipper. Wait, he was American, too.

The internal combustion engine muffler was invented by Milton O. Reeves, a famous Canadian . . . no, wait, he was American, too.

The Canadians were the first to put a man on the moon, they cured polio, they invented the atomic bomb, the remote control, the fluorescent lamp, the artificial heart, WD40, the hard disk drive, the maser, the laser and the taser, the GPS, the LED, Kevlar, the CD, PET scanners, MRI's, cable TV, barcodes, digital cameras, the Internet, the suspension bridge, solar cells, circuit breakers, the gas mask, the burglar alarm, the vacuum cleaner, the phonograph, the cash register, the electric fan, the AC motor, the ballpoint pen, the hearing aid, the airplane, the hydraulic brake, air conditioning and the Slinky - each one a product of those brilliant lights of the Great White Way. No, wait, they were all Americans, too.

Canada's new motto: "No guts. No glory. Just snow. Eh."

-- Bobby G.