New law cracks down on metal thieves

Waiting period for payment and notification system are key parts of an effort to discourage ‘scrappers’

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Dec 23, 2009, Updated Dec 23, 2009

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Irrigation pipe. Trash cans. Aluminum ladders. Beer kegs. Catalytic converters.

Why would anyone steal this stuff?

What might seem like ordinary metal consumer goods to most represent a grab bag of nickels, dimes and dollars for desperate thieves, often called “scrappers.”

Just as rising methamphetamine use caused an increase in identity theft cases — where thieves would sort through trash looking for discarded credit card applications or bank balance sheets — so has the drug inspired scrappers to scrounge construction sites and garages for any metal item they can sell to metal recyclers for enough money to buy their next hit.

But come January, a new Oregon law will go into effect that authorities hope will curb the illicit trade by adding new restrictions on the sale of scrap metal and by using technology to keep authorities across the Portland region abreast of the most recent thefts.

“What the law is trying to accomplish is to ensure effective communication between all the law enforcement agencies and the recyclers who take metals,” said Bracken McKey, a Washington County deputy district attorney who’s setting up an e-mail list that will alert police agencies across the county and metal recyclers across the region about metal thefts.

Sending out an alert

That e-mail list is part of a key provision of the new law, Senate Bill 570. The law requires police agencies to send out an alert within 24 hours of a metal theft describing the items that are stolen and where the theft occurred.

The notifications will help police officers and employees at recycling centers hone in on metal thieves, such as Timothy Gann, who went a three month burglary spree a few years back, stealing nearly $50,000 worth of metal in western Washington County.

Jeff Steinfeld, Operations Supervisor at Far West Fibers, said the new provision will help the employees at his companies’ recycling centers spot illegal metal items.

“It should really make a dent in metal theft in Washington County,” Steinfeld said.

And while Washington County’s various law enforcement agencies share radio communications and routinely swap information about larger investigations, it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of illegal scrappers, who often steal metal indiscriminately from Banks to Tigard.

And by identifying the items stolen quickly, police and legitimate recyclers like Schnitzer Steel will be able to spot goods that have entered the hands of intermediary dealers, who often seem more legitimate than the thieves themselves.

In-between dealers

“One of the issues was the in-between dealers the guy that buys metal and takes it to Schnitzer,” said Capt. Aaron Ashbaugh, Forest Grove Police spokesman.

Before the new law, the intermediary dealers weren’t breaking any laws by buying scrap from a thief, unless they knew the material was stolen.

But now those intermediaries need a metal transportation certificate, which includes the date the property was acquired and the amount and type of metal being transported as well as its destination.

And when the metal gets to a recycler like Far West Fibers, the recycler will no longer be able to give cash on the spot.

Instead, the seller needs to provide an address where a check can be mailed three days later.

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