Thieves in California targeting schools for copper wiring

Tag : Copper Wires

SACRAMENTO, Calif., As luck would have it, thieves stripping copperwires from Kingswood Elementary in the Sacramento, Calif., arealast weekend managed to cut the juice to the school's surveillancesystem.

"Lucky for them," lamented Robert Lewis, scheduling supervisor forSan Juan Unified School District's maintenance and operationsdepartment. "Not our luck."
 
Left with no leads and a $3,500 bill, San Juan officials can onlybrace for the next in a series of copper thefts that has cost thedistrict almost $150,000 in just five weeks.
 
At $3 a foot, the copper electrical wiring is an enticing commodityfor thieves who have risked electrocution in the wee hours of themorning for their valuable loot. So far this summer, vandals havetargeted five campuses. El Camino High School was their first and most lucrative hit: 2,400feet of copper that could have fetched up to $7,200 at scrap metalyards. The job probably took about four hours and at least two people,given the weight of the metal, estimates Bob Davis, director ofmaintenance and operations for San Juan Unified.
 
The theft cost the district $40,000 in replacement parts and labor,Davis said. Kingswood was the latest theft, and the tamest. Each of the fourprevious jobs cost the district at least $30,000. District officials speculate the thefts are symptoms of a badeconomy that has people desperate. But the district, which made $6million in budget cuts this spring, is desperate, too, they said.