Gwinnett Daily Post | Legislation aids in metal theft decline

LAWRENCEVILLE — Legislation that was enacted a year ago has played a large part in pulling the plug on a popular crime that soared during the height of the Great Recession.

Thanks to the creation of a Metal Theft Unit in the Gwinnett County Police Department, and a law that went into effect on July 1, 2012, the number of metal thefts in Gwinnett has dropped by more than half. Lee Swann, a security investigator for the Georgia Transmission Corporation, which works for the state’s EMCs, said he’s recorded a 63 percent reduction in the last year.

“This has an impact on the citizens as a whole,” said Swann, who tracks copper theft at substations and transmission lines across the state.

The law, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, placed additional requirements on metal recyclers and sellers in an effort to reduce metal theft. It excludes batteries, but includes popular stolen items such as catalytic converters and copper from air conditioners.

For example, of the 78 incidents in the first quarter of this year in Gwinnett, 43 were catalytic converters.

In part, it requires sellers to submit to having a photograph taken of themselves and what they’re selling, and sign a statement that they are legally in possession of the property.

Before the legislation, metal thieves hit multiple locations in Gwinnett.

via Gwinnett Daily Post | Legislation aids in metal theft decline.