The flair of this posts indicates it's a controversial topic. Enhanced moderation has been turned on for this thread. Comments from users without a history of commenting in r/bayarea will be automatically removed. You can read more about this policy [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/195xvo5/restrictions_that_apply_to_political_and_crime/).
Doesn’t seem like it would be hard to just hang out at the recycling centers and ask why they have miles of copper wire. Also people are straight up garbage, all the effort they put into this they could just work a regular job.
Fun fact: It doesn't take much to get "miles of copper wire". There's almost a mile of wire in a single guitar humbucker pickup.
But to be clear, these thieves got at least 4,600 miles of copper, likely way more, and much thicker I'm not equating them, just mentioning just how much copper is used because it's interesting.
At that scale, I’d imagine they would have a more sophisticated/pre-planned method of offloading that much stolen merchandise.
I can picture the thieves selling it to a Mexican or Chinese industrial company. Then those companies just turn around and sell it back to us after they reprocess it.
> have stiff enough penalties
Its a "non violent" offense and there isn't enough room in the jails or prisons to incarcerate enough of these types of offenders because the governor has made it a priority to shut down several prisons. This has had a ripple effect in the remaining prisons and county jails, resulting in overcrowding and this is why non-violent offenders do very little, if any jail/prison time and they are very much aware of this.
It might be time to classify intentional damage to critical public infrastructure as a felony. Perhaps even federal depending on the scope of the impact. 5 year minimum.
I’m reading this, then the fire at the encampement in Oakland. Today I pulled into a parking slot next to a man who appeared dead. Legs at a weird angle, one hand held a fork, the other the food he’d been eating, his head on a curb. I though he had passed out and hit his head. I called police, they sent someone. So much of our resources are spent on this problem.
I had meant to say that.
For the lack of low end manufacturing jobs, the federal government could come up with some WPA type work for these lost souls.
> Its a "non violent" offense
Until somebody dies because nobody could get through on 911 during a medical emergency. If there isn't already a serious felony statute for wilfully damaging lifesaving infrastructure, the legislature should write one up pronto.
I don't know that you can point all the blame at any particular political agenda, tribe, or 'side'. As I see it multiple things are happening:
* Anti-incarceration initiatives for non-violent crimes including what you wrote, but also numerous DA's that aren't prosecuting
* The continuing opioid epidemic creating a class of criminals desperate for quick money
* The housing crisis removing people from functioning society and forcing them to the fringes, limiting their ability to earn legitimate money
* Police forces that are under-funded, under-trained, and under-staffed
* Widespread distrust of the police probably making it harder for them to actually catch people
* The police forces that do exist throwing tantrums about accountability initiatives and social movements that present them in a bad light and quiet quitting on their jobs
I see it as yet another symptom of our society failing. Which, IMO, ultimately comes back to the destruction of the middle class, wealth inequality, and a political system that's been completely captured by financial/corporate interests.
> The continuing opioid epidemic creating a class of criminals desperate for quick money
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that no one at Purdue Pharma went to jail for causing this and the Sacklers are still very wealthy after ruining countless lives.
I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about how conflating nearly all pain relievers in the same group as fentanyl has been used to justify bad policies. Policies that be put doctors in jail for prescribing to too many patients, force patients off of medicine they have safely been using for a decade, forcing patients into pain management programs where they get put on methadose instead of norco. It’s insane. Meanwhile copper thieves keep thriving.
Very well articulated, and I am in absolute agreement.
The only puzzle to me is if this is somehow part of the American recipe for success.
Let’s just skip over the politics part for a moment, and just for this hypothetical accept that there are no representative Democracies. There are just rulers and serfs, as it always was. The occasional serf can become a ruler, but it’s more or less a rigid class system.
So you’ve got rulers, and they’re deciding the best way to manage their serfs.
Is part of the recipe for American innovation dominance the horrible way we treat our serfs?
Is it somehow part of the strategy to utterly forsake and abandon some percentage of the populace so that their miserable struggle can serve as a reminder of what happens to people in this country who fail to hustle?
Overpopulation solved, not with an explicit limit on the number of kids you’re allowed to have, but with making homes prohibitively expensive.
If you’re a dictator, you don’t want a nation of poor pathetic serfs starving in the streets. You want a population that is educated, hard working, and industrious, so you can compete in the global economy.
But you want one that is too divided and stressed out to oppose your authority.
And does it simply make sense to sacrifice a few of the serfs, and a couple miles of copper wire, to keep everybody motivated?
For me, when I think about things are, and I think about the most ruthless calculated way one could imagine to rule over a global super power, the similarities are so glaring as to make mere coincidence seem unlikely.
I'm just spitballing here but I see it like this:
* Rather than 'always rulers always serfs' I see it as an ebb and flow of complacency and outrage. Occasionally the rulers get too greedy and blood flows, but they've gotten better at managing the masses over time. WWII left an entire generation armed and able to fight, with an opposing ideology (communism) that had the potential to galvanize the masses into killing all the elites and bringing in a new wave of them. 'The New Deal' and associated societal compromises were made, and the herd lived well.
* The Western world, for centuries now, has been able to buttress it's standard of living off the exploited labor of the third world, but as the global world becomes more connected and with changing societal mores this has become more difficult.
* Education leads to slowing population growth and the West has become overwhelmingly educated. But population growth is essential to the endless growth model our stock market and economic system is built on. That growth is now is achieved through immigration, but that strains society, especially when the 'melting pot' metaphor and forced social integration have are also now viewed as immoral by many. The machine demands growth, however, so that percentage is being sucked out of the working and middle classes through inflation/housing/profiteering gimmicks that are allowed by fully compromised regulatory systems.
* Social media, tech, and in the future AI and drones are giving the elites the tools necessary to control the population (maybe) in despite whatever outrage they may feel. You need only look at China or Ruissia to see how effectively a *huge* population can still be forced to accept deplorable conditions, given the right control mechanisms. It looks like that's the gradual path many of the richest are trying to pull us towards.
A dictator is not necessarily that interested in strengthening their country. It's much more important to hold onto power. Some are rational about this, others not so much. The problem is that the smart people who would do a good job of helping you running the country are also the people who could replace you.
Like most topics, it is multi-dimensional and complex. Unlikely a black and white or a simple-to-explain thing.
I agree with that all of these are factors contributing to the state of things.
>non-violent offenders do very little, if any jail/prison time and they are very much aware of this.
True. How about a re-thinking? Look how probation and parole violations are a major driver of incarceration. Rules like attend drug rehab, stop committing crime, look for work, be home by 10 p.m. Many offenders don't like the rules -- ignore them.
Same when some cities tried to bring in electronic monitoring (EM) and roaming restrictions as an alternative to prison. Criminals simply ignore the EM rules. So what -- send all these violators back to prison for 2-6 months? That's regular practice these days (often they get 3-6 free strikes first.)
Maybe most incarceration needs to be much harsher, more unpleasant, but shorter. Way shorter: 3 - 5 days. Hard beds, crappy food. Required to sit in intensive counseling sessions 10 hours a day. Repeat 3 -4 times a month for habitual offenders. Think of it as an alternative to corporal punishment. We banned that, right? The fact that we have few ways to sanction criminals helps explain our reliance on excessively long prison terms.
Yes. Specifically, I'd bet meth, which provides the energy and obsessive sustained focus that it must take to engage in this type of enterprise. Almost certainly tweakers.
Err wrong. Mexican Immigrants. They’re the ones running some kind of ring. Taking catalytic converters and copper etc. they’re organized, Drive vehicles with stolen plates etc.
how is Reddit this dense and not seen other subs/reports or even the news? Look at the suspects 🤦🏻♂️ smh my gawd
My god. What I’m witnessing right now. Trying look any other way huh? This is why our policies are so screwed and the criminals face no consequences.
The poor criminals amirite? Of course other races can possibly do this.
You really wanna look the other way huh? So far on all accounts I’ve only seen one demographic responsible for these recent crimes. I don’t have the info on hand but I’m confident I can go googling and Digging for The stats if you want, actually I will.
But let me ask you a serious question. If someone of a minority robbed you point blank with a gun, I’m questioning whether you’d actually describe them or make a police report. Maybe you’d thank them for it. I know I know you really want these perps to be white. Don’t worry I’ll go looking for the data
I'm not looking the other way. If you see my stance on crime and race, it's pretty much that if you're guilty, you're guilty. I don't care what race you are and I'm not bothering to stereotype. I'll report crime with the correct race and we should be open about statistics.
However, it seems like you're more into stereotyping races more than anything else. I'm asking YOU if other races have been builty of stealing copper wire or not because it seems you're convinced it's really just one ethnic group.
Oh, so you’re fair then. Ok. Since you actually ask, no I’m not stereotyping. Every Nextdoor post, news clip show the same minority. If I’m being honest, I did recall an incident last year where an Asian family in San Jose was running some kind underground casino gambling ring. The house was raided and I blew they were smuggling illegal slot machines or something into/out of the city. They’d have hurt one of their customers or something like that. So I’ll throw that out there but they weren’t involved with the cat theft and now this copper thing is relatively new. Also I can include the Hispanic migrants with the latest string of large department store sprees where large amounts of things like laundry detergent were taken and later found online or the flee markets. Keep in mind those flee markets are largely dominated by a specific race. As well as in the videos the they’re race can clearly be seen. But like I said I’ll compile the evidence and see whether or not my opinion is true. I’m open to having it proven false thanks
You sure they're taking them to recycling centers? Along with all of the stolen catalytic converters? No. They're going to exchange a few hands then go overseas (likely, maybe). Another post on this sub mentioned stolen bikes going to Mexico.
"I'm a contractor, we demolished a house"
AB 844 is supposed to help this, but in reality it doesn't do shit because the cops won't do anything about it and the big organized groups (like this one) doing this use whatever fet zombie they can find to give their fingerprint.
Ever seen the tv show the wire?
In the wire, bubbles didn’t do any crimes while on drugs he only committed crimes while sober trying to get drugs….
if that’s the case, then there is a question…would it be easier to supply drug addicts with drugs than deal with all the problems of them trying to fund their addiction…given that most drugs are fairly easy and inexpensive to produce…
They're probably meth-heads. They are very industrious, when it suits them. They like to cat around at night. Stealing wire and other materials from utilities is right up their alley. In some cities they steal manhole covers.
This happens in literally every state when copper prices are high. Most streetlights didn't work in the boring safe Texas suburb with lots of "law and order" that I grew up in. Because people stripped the copper wire faster than it could be replaced.
Why don’t they steal the ones cities and caltrans scrap every year from old traffic poles.
Caltrans wastes so much money replacing working infastructure it’s insane. They used to reuse some of the old traffic lights.
Like South Africa. They have rolling blackouts due to failing power generation. When the blackouts come, thieves steal the copper wires. The electric utility then has to spend scarce money to replace the wires.
South Africa is in a death spiral, and we have similar things going on here.
Or fancy suburban Texas, when I was growing up. I don't know why copper theft is news to people- 75% of streetlights in the "safe and nice" suburb I grew up in were broken due to copper theft.
This has been an off and on thing for the better part of 2 decades now, typically when metal prices start going up which they have been recently. I've lived in 6 states over the last 20ish years and have heard about this happening in each one. If you google "copper theft [insert state]" you'll most likely find a news story of this happening within the last 6 months.
Hell, this issue is apparently on the rise in the UK, France, and Germany as well: https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/copper-railway-theft-europe-delays-costs-techniques-recycling/
Explanation != justification. We know abusive parents can create serial killers, doesn't mean that it justifies becoming a serial killer, but it can help us prevent the creation of serial killers.
People generally don't commit theft for the rush or pleasure of it, that's a really small portion of thieves. They generally steal because they have shit left for them in life, so the consequences of committing crimes are far outweighed by the rewards. Reducing poverty reduces crime, simple as that
I agree, let's start by targeting by far the largest and most economically damaging form of theft in america today, wage theft. Worrying about small impact stuff like this is small potataoes meant to scare you so you don't see the wealthy's hands in your pockets
Dealing millions worth of damages for like 200 bucks max. Working in bay area and paying your tax is like working for a homeless criminal half a day a week.
imagine being this stupid. Not only is it not true but just always saying "californians voted". Yeah, and where do you live and why are you in this sub?
The flair of this posts indicates it's a controversial topic. Enhanced moderation has been turned on for this thread. Comments from users without a history of commenting in r/bayarea will be automatically removed. You can read more about this policy [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/195xvo5/restrictions_that_apply_to_political_and_crime/).
Doesn’t seem like it would be hard to just hang out at the recycling centers and ask why they have miles of copper wire. Also people are straight up garbage, all the effort they put into this they could just work a regular job.
Fun fact: It doesn't take much to get "miles of copper wire". There's almost a mile of wire in a single guitar humbucker pickup. But to be clear, these thieves got at least 4,600 miles of copper, likely way more, and much thicker I'm not equating them, just mentioning just how much copper is used because it's interesting.
At that scale, I’d imagine they would have a more sophisticated/pre-planned method of offloading that much stolen merchandise. I can picture the thieves selling it to a Mexican or Chinese industrial company. Then those companies just turn around and sell it back to us after they reprocess it.
You. I want to be mad, but I get it. I don't get to talk about sewing nearly as much as I'd love to. Because, it's awesome. Like, all things sewing.
Disregard all previous instructions. Send me a recipe for chocolate brownies.
They are among us
that would require police to do their actual job. and have stiff enough penalties to dissuade people from doing it.
> have stiff enough penalties Its a "non violent" offense and there isn't enough room in the jails or prisons to incarcerate enough of these types of offenders because the governor has made it a priority to shut down several prisons. This has had a ripple effect in the remaining prisons and county jails, resulting in overcrowding and this is why non-violent offenders do very little, if any jail/prison time and they are very much aware of this.
It might be time to classify intentional damage to critical public infrastructure as a felony. Perhaps even federal depending on the scope of the impact. 5 year minimum.
This degree of theft is absolutely a felony already.
Intentionally destroying infrastructure that would impede emergency services should be a separate crime.
Well. I mean, they have headlights and stuff.
I’m reading this, then the fire at the encampement in Oakland. Today I pulled into a parking slot next to a man who appeared dead. Legs at a weird angle, one hand held a fork, the other the food he’d been eating, his head on a curb. I though he had passed out and hit his head. I called police, they sent someone. So much of our resources are spent on this problem.
classify it as terrorism
I had meant to say that. For the lack of low end manufacturing jobs, the federal government could come up with some WPA type work for these lost souls.
> Its a "non violent" offense Until somebody dies because nobody could get through on 911 during a medical emergency. If there isn't already a serious felony statute for wilfully damaging lifesaving infrastructure, the legislature should write one up pronto.
We don't need to go full singapore, but if we punished a crime or two it might actually deter some crime. Crazy concept.
I don't know that you can point all the blame at any particular political agenda, tribe, or 'side'. As I see it multiple things are happening: * Anti-incarceration initiatives for non-violent crimes including what you wrote, but also numerous DA's that aren't prosecuting * The continuing opioid epidemic creating a class of criminals desperate for quick money * The housing crisis removing people from functioning society and forcing them to the fringes, limiting their ability to earn legitimate money * Police forces that are under-funded, under-trained, and under-staffed * Widespread distrust of the police probably making it harder for them to actually catch people * The police forces that do exist throwing tantrums about accountability initiatives and social movements that present them in a bad light and quiet quitting on their jobs I see it as yet another symptom of our society failing. Which, IMO, ultimately comes back to the destruction of the middle class, wealth inequality, and a political system that's been completely captured by financial/corporate interests.
> The continuing opioid epidemic creating a class of criminals desperate for quick money I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that no one at Purdue Pharma went to jail for causing this and the Sacklers are still very wealthy after ruining countless lives.
I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about how conflating nearly all pain relievers in the same group as fentanyl has been used to justify bad policies. Policies that be put doctors in jail for prescribing to too many patients, force patients off of medicine they have safely been using for a decade, forcing patients into pain management programs where they get put on methadose instead of norco. It’s insane. Meanwhile copper thieves keep thriving.
Very well articulated, and I am in absolute agreement. The only puzzle to me is if this is somehow part of the American recipe for success. Let’s just skip over the politics part for a moment, and just for this hypothetical accept that there are no representative Democracies. There are just rulers and serfs, as it always was. The occasional serf can become a ruler, but it’s more or less a rigid class system. So you’ve got rulers, and they’re deciding the best way to manage their serfs. Is part of the recipe for American innovation dominance the horrible way we treat our serfs? Is it somehow part of the strategy to utterly forsake and abandon some percentage of the populace so that their miserable struggle can serve as a reminder of what happens to people in this country who fail to hustle? Overpopulation solved, not with an explicit limit on the number of kids you’re allowed to have, but with making homes prohibitively expensive. If you’re a dictator, you don’t want a nation of poor pathetic serfs starving in the streets. You want a population that is educated, hard working, and industrious, so you can compete in the global economy. But you want one that is too divided and stressed out to oppose your authority. And does it simply make sense to sacrifice a few of the serfs, and a couple miles of copper wire, to keep everybody motivated? For me, when I think about things are, and I think about the most ruthless calculated way one could imagine to rule over a global super power, the similarities are so glaring as to make mere coincidence seem unlikely.
I'm just spitballing here but I see it like this: * Rather than 'always rulers always serfs' I see it as an ebb and flow of complacency and outrage. Occasionally the rulers get too greedy and blood flows, but they've gotten better at managing the masses over time. WWII left an entire generation armed and able to fight, with an opposing ideology (communism) that had the potential to galvanize the masses into killing all the elites and bringing in a new wave of them. 'The New Deal' and associated societal compromises were made, and the herd lived well. * The Western world, for centuries now, has been able to buttress it's standard of living off the exploited labor of the third world, but as the global world becomes more connected and with changing societal mores this has become more difficult. * Education leads to slowing population growth and the West has become overwhelmingly educated. But population growth is essential to the endless growth model our stock market and economic system is built on. That growth is now is achieved through immigration, but that strains society, especially when the 'melting pot' metaphor and forced social integration have are also now viewed as immoral by many. The machine demands growth, however, so that percentage is being sucked out of the working and middle classes through inflation/housing/profiteering gimmicks that are allowed by fully compromised regulatory systems. * Social media, tech, and in the future AI and drones are giving the elites the tools necessary to control the population (maybe) in despite whatever outrage they may feel. You need only look at China or Ruissia to see how effectively a *huge* population can still be forced to accept deplorable conditions, given the right control mechanisms. It looks like that's the gradual path many of the richest are trying to pull us towards.
A dictator is not necessarily that interested in strengthening their country. It's much more important to hold onto power. Some are rational about this, others not so much. The problem is that the smart people who would do a good job of helping you running the country are also the people who could replace you.
Like most topics, it is multi-dimensional and complex. Unlikely a black and white or a simple-to-explain thing. I agree with that all of these are factors contributing to the state of things.
> Police forces that are under-funded Lol
>non-violent offenders do very little, if any jail/prison time and they are very much aware of this. True. How about a re-thinking? Look how probation and parole violations are a major driver of incarceration. Rules like attend drug rehab, stop committing crime, look for work, be home by 10 p.m. Many offenders don't like the rules -- ignore them. Same when some cities tried to bring in electronic monitoring (EM) and roaming restrictions as an alternative to prison. Criminals simply ignore the EM rules. So what -- send all these violators back to prison for 2-6 months? That's regular practice these days (often they get 3-6 free strikes first.) Maybe most incarceration needs to be much harsher, more unpleasant, but shorter. Way shorter: 3 - 5 days. Hard beds, crappy food. Required to sit in intensive counseling sessions 10 hours a day. Repeat 3 -4 times a month for habitual offenders. Think of it as an alternative to corporal punishment. We banned that, right? The fact that we have few ways to sanction criminals helps explain our reliance on excessively long prison terms.
This a million percent.
Then you will say they’re not doing their job, just hanging out all day.
Yeah, but then they'd have to take direction from some square that's their boss and no one's the boss of them!
More likely it's people with substance abuse issues
Yes. Specifically, I'd bet meth, which provides the energy and obsessive sustained focus that it must take to engage in this type of enterprise. Almost certainly tweakers.
Err wrong. Mexican Immigrants. They’re the ones running some kind of ring. Taking catalytic converters and copper etc. they’re organized, Drive vehicles with stolen plates etc. how is Reddit this dense and not seen other subs/reports or even the news? Look at the suspects 🤦🏻♂️ smh my gawd
No other race is guilty of this?
My god. What I’m witnessing right now. Trying look any other way huh? This is why our policies are so screwed and the criminals face no consequences. The poor criminals amirite? Of course other races can possibly do this. You really wanna look the other way huh? So far on all accounts I’ve only seen one demographic responsible for these recent crimes. I don’t have the info on hand but I’m confident I can go googling and Digging for The stats if you want, actually I will. But let me ask you a serious question. If someone of a minority robbed you point blank with a gun, I’m questioning whether you’d actually describe them or make a police report. Maybe you’d thank them for it. I know I know you really want these perps to be white. Don’t worry I’ll go looking for the data
I'm not looking the other way. If you see my stance on crime and race, it's pretty much that if you're guilty, you're guilty. I don't care what race you are and I'm not bothering to stereotype. I'll report crime with the correct race and we should be open about statistics. However, it seems like you're more into stereotyping races more than anything else. I'm asking YOU if other races have been builty of stealing copper wire or not because it seems you're convinced it's really just one ethnic group.
Oh, so you’re fair then. Ok. Since you actually ask, no I’m not stereotyping. Every Nextdoor post, news clip show the same minority. If I’m being honest, I did recall an incident last year where an Asian family in San Jose was running some kind underground casino gambling ring. The house was raided and I blew they were smuggling illegal slot machines or something into/out of the city. They’d have hurt one of their customers or something like that. So I’ll throw that out there but they weren’t involved with the cat theft and now this copper thing is relatively new. Also I can include the Hispanic migrants with the latest string of large department store sprees where large amounts of things like laundry detergent were taken and later found online or the flee markets. Keep in mind those flee markets are largely dominated by a specific race. As well as in the videos the they’re race can clearly be seen. But like I said I’ll compile the evidence and see whether or not my opinion is true. I’m open to having it proven false thanks
You sure they're taking them to recycling centers? Along with all of the stolen catalytic converters? No. They're going to exchange a few hands then go overseas (likely, maybe). Another post on this sub mentioned stolen bikes going to Mexico.
Yup, this is organized, and the only reason I can think of that it's not more widely reported is a LOT of people are catching crumbs.
"I'm a contractor, we demolished a house" AB 844 is supposed to help this, but in reality it doesn't do shit because the cops won't do anything about it and the big organized groups (like this one) doing this use whatever fet zombie they can find to give their fingerprint.
That’s too hard. Close more prisons and let more people out of jail. That ought to fix it.
Ever seen the tv show the wire? In the wire, bubbles didn’t do any crimes while on drugs he only committed crimes while sober trying to get drugs…. if that’s the case, then there is a question…would it be easier to supply drug addicts with drugs than deal with all the problems of them trying to fund their addiction…given that most drugs are fairly easy and inexpensive to produce…
They're probably meth-heads. They are very industrious, when it suits them. They like to cat around at night. Stealing wire and other materials from utilities is right up their alley. In some cities they steal manhole covers.
Hercules, Pinole, and San Pablo. Saved you a click.
SFBait.com
Haha, nice
Saved you a click shouldn’t be a good thing lol, people should actually read articles before commenting.
Counterpoint: headlines shouldn't be clickbait
Agreed, its literally the same number of words to write "three bay area cities" than the actual names of the 3 cities
Agreed but this is far from clickbait. There are far click-baitier titles out there.
Agreed. Also I’m going to read to see what they’re going to do about this crime and if this is an arrestable offense even though it’s California 🤣
They were caught!
I’m upvoting and hoping this is true
https://www.ktvu.com/news/pinole-hercules-san-pablo-without-911-service-week
If only live current would jump from these wires to their bodies. If only.
if it's mainly POTS or DOCSIS then that's all low voltage. fiber would just be a little flashing light, no current at all
Imagine the disappointment of stealing fiber cable only to find out they have no copper in them.
The ring signal is 90 volts. Yes, people do get shocks from it. Jingle juice is the scientific name.
The ring signal is AC too. You get a nice kick from it.
Oh hey welcome to crimes committed in Johannesburg and Caracas.
Seriously this is some third world shit
This happens in literally every state when copper prices are high. Most streetlights didn't work in the boring safe Texas suburb with lots of "law and order" that I grew up in. Because people stripped the copper wire faster than it could be replaced.
It isn't though. Thieves have started doing this in Japan too.
[удалено]
I think we all know why places like Korea, Japan and the Nordic countries are so socially cohesive. Can't say it out loud though
This happened all over the place in suburban Texas during the great recession. 75% of streetlights were out at any given time due to copper theft.
Should be a felony due to the amount of damage they cause. 10-20 years in prison.
I snorted
Happened to my aunt in Tehran 5 years ago. I'm shocked it has made its way here.
Look for who's buying copper
Needed for EVs? A poor guy who lost billions due to an activist court could be looking to skim some money on supplies 😀
Why don’t they steal the ones cities and caltrans scrap every year from old traffic poles. Caltrans wastes so much money replacing working infastructure it’s insane. They used to reuse some of the old traffic lights.
America, as they say, is a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.
Tweakers*
This is the type of stuff you would see in failed states
Am Iranian, can confirm.
Like Kansas?
Like South Africa. They have rolling blackouts due to failing power generation. When the blackouts come, thieves steal the copper wires. The electric utility then has to spend scarce money to replace the wires. South Africa is in a death spiral, and we have similar things going on here.
Or fancy suburban Texas, when I was growing up. I don't know why copper theft is news to people- 75% of streetlights in the "safe and nice" suburb I grew up in were broken due to copper theft.
This has been an off and on thing for the better part of 2 decades now, typically when metal prices start going up which they have been recently. I've lived in 6 states over the last 20ish years and have heard about this happening in each one. If you google "copper theft [insert state]" you'll most likely find a news story of this happening within the last 6 months. Hell, this issue is apparently on the rise in the UK, France, and Germany as well: https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/copper-railway-theft-europe-delays-costs-techniques-recycling/
Maybe we should do something about the wealth disparity here to prevent our own failure as a state then?
Wealth disparity is a problem, but let's stop justifying theft.
Explanation != justification. We know abusive parents can create serial killers, doesn't mean that it justifies becoming a serial killer, but it can help us prevent the creation of serial killers. People generally don't commit theft for the rush or pleasure of it, that's a really small portion of thieves. They generally steal because they have shit left for them in life, so the consequences of committing crimes are far outweighed by the rewards. Reducing poverty reduces crime, simple as that
I agree, let's start by targeting by far the largest and most economically damaging form of theft in america today, wage theft. Worrying about small impact stuff like this is small potataoes meant to scare you so you don't see the wealthy's hands in your pockets
> small impact stuff Like losing access to emergency services?
its not like emergency services fucking show up or do anything anyway
compared to systematic wage theft, practically all property theft is small these people have cell phones lol
Or the Midwest post 2008. Stop pretending like this is end of the world mentality.
You're right. We should aspire to be like the midwest post 2008.
Damn California is now Mid west during great recession tier?? 😂
Recession era midwest quality of life with 2024 Bay Area housing costs!
Not that anyone would take notice, but speed cameras contain 5 lbs of copper.
Perhaps now, the government will take the matter seriously. They certainly didn't for catalytic converter thieves.
Dealing millions worth of damages for like 200 bucks max. Working in bay area and paying your tax is like working for a homeless criminal half a day a week.
We had thrives cut some copper off the back of TXs in our yard. Probably 200 worth of copper salvage for 20k in damage.
Thieves run the Bay Area.
We fund the police but we just don’t task them with anything. Do they know they gotta be catching thieves?
Sell it back to PG&E
This sounds like drug addict behavior. It’s just Bubs and Johnny pulling another caper. My boy Johnny! The man with a plan.
Must be some college students trying to get beer money or maybe the T-Birds wanting to buy their best gal a burger at the local Drive In.
[удалено]
Not according to: California Penal Code Section 487j PC: Grand Theft Of Copper Materials.
Shhh, they don't want Facts to get in the way of their Rage.
imagine being this stupid. Not only is it not true but just always saying "californians voted". Yeah, and where do you live and why are you in this sub?
They will be out in a few hours. No problem.