A quarter of copper wire thefts in North America occur in Washington and Oregon, two states with massive homeless populations. The thefts take down telecommunication networks and put lives at risk.
According to KIRO 7, thieves are cutting cables from phone, cable, and internet providers to sell to local scrap yards for pennies on the dollar.
The outlet also reported that rural areas of Pierce and South King Counties have been suffering from vandals stealing copper from telephone wires.
Copper is at the highest price it has been in a year. Scrap yards will buy copper for approximately $1 to $1.50 a pound and drug addicts will steal and sell the material to fuel their habits.
Dan Chason, who runs vandalism and anti-theft efforts for Lumen, CenturyLink’s parent company, told KIRO 7 that the thefts are putting hospitals and 911 systems at risk. He said, “We had a cut in Bremerton last week that took down the airport,” adding that it also disrupted services “at the Mission Creek Correctional. It’s a prison. It took down their services. I mean, it doesn’t get more serious in that.”
Since January 1, Lumen has had 69 cases of line cutting in Washington state, 36 percent of the cases in North America.
