[Durham INC] copper theft vs. auto theft as a reported crime

[RW Pickle]

As promised, but a little longer than anticipated because I'm not the one
providing the information, here is a breakdown of car theft relative to
copper theft. As the statistics did bear out, copper theft is minimal
compared to car theft in the time frame I asked for (from 2009 forward).
This information was provided by The Durham Police Department Crime
Statistics Division and I'd like to publicly thank them for their work on
this.

"For the year 2009, as of 3/18/09, there were a total of 36 incidents
where there was a theft of copper and 143 motor vehicle thefts."

I did not get the breakdown to know if it was copper from ac units, pipes
under a house, or copper wire. Nor did it break it down to where you could
determine if it was an abandoned house, occupied house, from a job site or
a work trailer. It was a total report of coper theft. So it could have
come from anywhere; suggesting it all was not residential related.

So instead of focusing on copper, perhaps the focus should be on vehicles.
When a person loses the use of their vehicle, any number of economic and
social problems begin to occur. They have no way to get to work, church,
get groceries or medical attention. If there are kids, this is a whole
other set of problems. If it is the only car a family has, well...
regardless, their freedom of getting around has been taken away. When
someone steals some copper from the ac unit of an  abandoned property (or
anywhere on residential or commercial property), that effects only the
property owner. And I said earlier, insurance covers the theft. Most of
the cars that are stolen do not have comprehensive auto insurance so there
is no insurance claim to help that individual.

So just because there is this urgent unsubstantiated need for thinking
something needs to be done, statistics show that there really isn't that
much of it actually happening (at least compared to cars which bring more
money when sold for scrap). And if we looked at it relative to where it is
happening, we would probably find it is typically isolated to a general
radius around specific neighborhoods. Cars, on the other hand, seem to
disappear all across town.

RWP
27 Beverly