Cost Effecitve Way of Preventing Copper Theft
With the spike of metal prices over the past few years, copper thieves are becoming a big problem. Thieves are stealing everything from manhole covers to entire bridges, simply to cash in on selling the copper. The even bigger problem is trying to figure out a way to prevent these theft, simply because there is no system in place (and probably will never be) to monitor these criminal activities that occur in every single corner of the world. But according to the article below, the simplest of solutions can be the most effective. The article describes how more simple solutions, such as putting cages around vulnerable copper objects and using padlocks/chains, can be the most cost effective method of copper security.
Cages keep copper thieves out
Amanda Millard, www.gastongazette.com
A cage can keep copper thieves out.
That’s the premise behind Copper-Guard, a metal cage that surrounds air conditioning units to prevent them from being butchered to get to the copper inside.
Security cameras can give police an image of who to look for. Fences can make it harder to get in.
“All these things are reactionary. The crooks are already there and damaging your property,” said Dean West, sales operations manager for WB Manufacturing, the company that makes Copper-Guards. “These cages are proactive.”
The Bessemer City company donated Copper-Guards to Midway Baptist Church this week after learning two of its air conditioning units had been hit twice in two years. Four Copper-Guards now surround the four air conditioning units at the front of the church that thieves didn’t hit. Two more will be installed when the other units are repaired.
The small congregation of 25 wondered how it would come up with the money to pay for security with its own bills to pay. West used to be a member of the church and said the company decided helping out the church would be the right thing to do.
“A lot of churches don’t know that these security systems exist so they’re getting hit again and again,” said West. “They work. We’ve never had a theft.”WB Manufacturing has locations across the U.S. in some of the roughest areas of cities such as Las Vegas and Chicago, West said. Copper theft is an issue everywhere, he said.
It’s only in the past few years that stealing copper has become a problem in Gaston County. But across the river the trouble has been going on a lot longer.
“Copper theft is bad in Gaston County, but it’s a lot worse in Mecklenburg County,” West said.
The metal cage is sized to specifically fit the air conditioner. A security fastener keeps thieves from simply unscrewing the cage.“There’s some smart engineering that’s used here,” West said.
The units range in price from $100 for a small Copper-Guard to $800 for a cage that can house large air conditioning unit.“He’s one of our angels that helped us out of this situation,” said Midway church member Morris Jenkins.
