The theft of certain metals, specifically copper, has been the scourge of homeowners, municipalities, road departments, and public safety agencies across the nation for several years. A report issued by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (“NICB”), suggests, however, that metal thieves may have moved on to other kinds of activities.
In producing the report, NICB analysts reviewed a total of 27,514 insurance claims for metal thefts occurring from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2017 – 98 percent of them for copper theft. The annual breakdown was: 2014 (12,682); 2015 (7,995); 2016 (4,063) and 2017 (2,774). The decrease from 2014 to 2017 was 78.1 percent.
According to the NICB, much of the credit for these reductions was due to state legislatures and municipalities working with their law enforcement agencies to enact tough laws targeting copper and other metal thefts. Many of these laws require scrap yards and recyclers to document the transaction and obtain proof of identity to discourage thieves from trying to cash in on their crimes.
The top five states for metal theft claims were: Ohio (2,851); New Jersey (2,520); Pennsylvania (2,382); New York (1,927), and Illinois (1,491). When ranked by the number of claims per 100,000 in population, the top five states were: Connecticut (32.830), New Jersey (27.982), Ohio (24.454), Rhode Island (23.970), and Delaware (21.207).
The top five core based statistical areas (“CBSAs”) were: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (1,938); Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (1,731); Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI (1,246); Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD (810) and Cleveland-Elyria, OH (652).
A total of 2,025 – or seven percent – of metal theft claims either were located outside of a CBSA or did not provide sufficient information to be included in a CBSA.
Learn more: www.nicb.org.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].