Catching metal thieves

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

There is a reason thieves in Southern Nevada steal copper wire from streetlights, and take aluminum, bronze and other metals from construction sites and buildings. They can make good money from scrap metal buyers.

Many of these crimes have been fueled by global demand for metals, as in China, which has experienced rapid construction growth. While our economy has cooled off, it will pick up at some point and the demand for metals will increase here once again.

To discourage thieves from fencing their ill-gotten gains, Metro Police has proposed that the 2009 Nevada Legislature consider new laws that would require scrap metal buyers to keep thorough records of each transaction, including detailed information on the sellers.

Abigail Goldman reported Thursday in the Las Vegas Sun that Metro is considering a bill, patterned after an Arizona law, that would require the sellers of scrap metal to provide their fingerprints and valid government-issued photo identification to the buyers. The buyers would have to pay by a check sent to the address on the seller’s ID, and would have to inform police of every purchase made. The buyers would also have to tag and hold purchased metals for a certain period of time before compacting them.

Some aspects of the proposal may raise concerns, such as the fingerprinting provision and the fact that it would apply to all transactions. The Arizona law applies only to transactions exceeding $25, a threshold that should be weighed by Nevada lawmakers as they consider such legislation.

But the concept of giving law enforcement greater tools to monitor and go after metal thieves has merit and deserves the Legislature’s attention. Metro has wisely indicated it has no interest in applying its proposal to individuals or groups that recycle aluminum cans or other food-related metal containers. It simply wants to crack down on the bad guys.

Metal theft is increasing and will get only worse if left unchecked. Giving police the authority to monitor scrap metal transactions would, we hope, reverse that trend by discouraging the criminals from fencing stolen property.