YAKIMA COUNTY – WSDOT in western Washington tweeted at the beginning of this month that I-5 express lanes had to be shut down because copper wires had been stolen from the highway. WSDOT in eastern Washington says they haven’t had any problems with copper wire thefts on highways in this part of the state this year.
Construction companies still get copper wire stolen from them from time to time but for the most part, thefts have decreased. In Yakima County, there’s was only four thefts involving copper wire in 2021. That’s a big increase from 2012 when there was 26 copper wire thefts.
Public Information Officer for the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office Casey Schilperoort said copper wire thefts have been a problem in eastern Washington for so long that people have learned how to prevent it.
“State workers don’t leave out spools of wire anymore, they have a lot more security and pay more attention to it,” Schilperoort said.
The Recycling Manager for Pacific Steel and Recycling Sean Jellerson said it used to be more of a problem before legislation in 2013 passed requiring recycling plants to take down information for the people they buy from.
RCW 19.290.020 requires them to take down the sellers car information, their address, phone number and other personal information.
If for some reason they come into possession of a stolen material, they cooperate with law enforcement.
“Everything we buy is itemized and we do store that information for five years so everything is here on site if they do call us and are looking for something in particular and something does come in that matches that description we hold it on site and have law enforcement take a look at it,” Jellerson said.
Jellerson said they also take other precautions like have a $30 cash limit and anything more is paid with a check.
“We don’t buy if it’s brand new or if it’s burned obviously because it’s against the law,” Jellerson said. “If it’s brand new we don’t buy unless its coming from a contractor or a local business.”
Jellerson said they did all this even beffore it was required by Washington law.
I spoke to several construction companies and contractors who say while copper wire thefts have decreased, theft of catalytic converters from their vehicles have increased.
Yakima County had eight catalytic converter thefts in 2021 and one so far this year. Franklin County had 12 thefts since last July.
There is no requirement for recycling plants to take down information listed in RCW 19.290.020 to buy catalytic converters. Legislation is being discussed to implement these requirements during this legislative session.
Pacific Steel said they already do this even if its not required to they avoid getting stolen ones. They don’t tend to buy many, so this legislation wouldn’t affect them.
They say they would be in support of tighter restrictions if it would help the community.
