While the dangers and detriments associated with copper theft are certainly nothing new, the topic has once again made headline news for spreading “like an epidemic” throughout the United States.
Copper theft has turned into a $1 billion dollar industry, and the FBI has long warned that it is a threat to the nation’s critical infrastructure. The valuable metal is being ripped out of electrical power substations, stolen from homes, and lifted from construction sites across the country, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. These crimes are most common in Texas, Ohio, California, Georgia, and Illinois, and 96% of all metal theft insurance claims between 2009 and 2012 were copper-related. Stolen copper scrap is difficult to track, and the metal is heavily in demand, making it a very attractive prospect for any thief in need some cash.
And the damage done goes far beyond the need to replace a few wires—copper theft from power stations can cause outages in essential buildings like hospitals, and nonfunctional utility poles create dangerous situations on streets busy with traffic. Even the thieves themselves are placing their lives at risk when they attempt to steal live wires, but as long as the payoff remains high, copper theft is bound to persist.
Live Video Monitoring Reduces Vulnerability
In response to the ever-growing copper theft problem, many commercial property owners are turning to video surveillance for protection, and it is with vigilant live monitoring such as that provided by Stealth Monitoring that local authorities can be notified in time to catch suspects in the act and prevent irreparable damage and property loss.
At Stealth Monitoring, rather than waiting for an alarm to be triggered, the technicians in our control center are constantly watching live video feeds and have been trained to identify suspicious activity before a situation has had a chance to escalate. This greatly reduces the vulnerability of your property. For more information on how Stealth Monitoring can protect your property from copper theft, call us today at 1-855-783-2584.
