Most of us in my neighborhood don't get too excited about the price of gold 'cause we ain't got any; but the price of other metal scrap has been up enough that criminals are stealing the power lines off the poles - while they're hot. Any building with an industrial strength air conditioner that doesn't have a 24-hour watchdog risks having the roof units stolen for the copper coils. And a few (unoccupied?) houses have been broken into, with someone breaking out the wall panels to pull the wire out, and air conditioners have been stolen from a few private homes.

Copper seems to be the favorite, although there have been some rather large heists of aluminum and stainless steel scrap piles from industrial places.

One paving contractor claims his guys dropped off several tons of rebar for a street project that all disappeared over night.

All the reports I've heard have been local stuff; but one would suspect similar problems anywhere people have got a beater truck big enough to haul a useful amount.

Our local gendarmes recognized the problem, so they set up a sting by taking a few loads of "simulated stolen scrap metal" to several dealers. They arrested people at three different dealers for "short weighing" their scrap, but no charges for "dealing in stolen goods" were filed. (Apparently it's really important that the thieves get full value for what they steal.)

John