Industry successfully responds to thefts

Several recent examples of the cooperation between the scrap recycling industry and law enforcement on materials thefts demonstrate how this type of cooperation is paying real dividends by recovering the stolen materials and helping catch the criminals.

Det. Ronald Selleck of the Livonia, Michigan Police Department reported that three out of four ScrapTheftAlert.com (STA) alerts he initiated have resulted in recovered property and felony warrants. Some examples include:

Renu Recycling alerted police that they had recently purchased stainless steel listed in an alert has having been stolen. Police recovered the metal and were able, based on records maintained by Renu Recycling, to obtain a felony warrant for the seller of the stolen metal.

Police were notified by H&H Metal that they had purchased a zinc casting that had been reported stolen on ScrapTheftAlert.com. Police recovered the stolen property and were able to obtain a felony warrant for the seller of the stolen zinc.

“I have submitted four items to your ScrapTheftAlert.com site, and have recovered three out of four stolen properties,” Selleck reported.

Georgia Power corporate security investigator Jason Tutterow recently wrote, “I would like to thank Ali Hailston and the rest of the Southern Metals Recycling team in Savannah, Georgia. Due to their quick thinking and assistance, Southern Metals Recycling notified Georgia Power about some suspicious wire that was brought into their facility. The wire was taken from the Georgia Power Headquarters in Savannah the day prior. All records and pertinent information on the suspect was collected by Southern Metals Recycling resulting in a theft case being solved.”

Dr. Mike Biddle, president and founder of MBA Polymers of Richmond, California, reported that his company used the ScrapTheftAlert.com system after five air conditioning units on top of his factory were ripped open for the copper inside. After reporting the crime on the STA system, the thieves were caught.

“We didn’t get our money back, but let’s hope we put these thieves out of commission for a good amount of time.”