Arizona County Considers Scrap Metal Rules

Stepping back from an earlier proposal called unreasonable by local dealers, the Pima County, Ariz., Sheriffs Office will be offering its new scrap metal sale regulations at the Aug. 1 meeting of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Responding to a rapid increase in the theft of copper and other non-ferrous metals from yards and construction sites across the metropolitan area, the Sheriffs Office is offering the proposed regulations as a way to make it harder for thieves to steal and sell the metal to local scrap dealers.

Seeking to strike a balance between law enforcement needs and what’s financially viable for the dealers, the new rules are less stringent than what was proposed earlier this year but still tough enough to discourage the thefts, said Lt. Chris Nanos, head of the sheriff’s Department of Crimes against Families and Property.

Being offered to the board of supervisors, the proposed new rules conform to the state’s used material dealer requirements for notification, record-keeping and hold times, he said. Additional requirements, opposed by the dealers as a burden, such as a 20-day hold on scrap materials, have been withdrawn. As a result, Nanos said, they shouldn’t have any further objection. "We’re not asking for anything more than the state asks of them. The dealers we’ve spoken with are on board with this," so he doesn’t foresee any problems getting the new rules approved.

He said, "We just want them to get identification whenever they receive anything, record a description of what was purchased, and report that back to law enforcement, using an electronic system that can be searched by law enforcement, whenever they receive a theft report."

Nanos said the fines for dealers who violate the rules are $2,500 per incident, "but the state allows up to $5,000 in fines and the City of Tucson includes the chance of losing your dealers license for even one offense. So, we’re not as stringent as we could be."

He said the county has developed its proposed system based on the assumption that the overwhelming majority of people selling scrap metal are legitimate business people. "It’s only about 1-2 percent are taking advantage of the situation, but by having the right set of rules, we can deter them from selling metals by making them think twice about it."

While spokesmen for Desert Metals Recycling and Tucson Iron & Metal said they couldn’t comment until they studied the proposed rules in more detail, Vanessa Gallego with Recyco Inc. said what she’s seeing is still far from a workable system. With aspects of the new regulations already being implemented, Gallego said the record keeping is far more, with little improvement in safety to show for it. "This triples our workload and there’s so much information they’re taking, I doubt anyone will be able to take a look through it in any way that will help law enforcement," she said.

Based on the standards for pawn shops, Gallego said the forms include questions the dealers can’t answer, such as serial numbers, and others that aren’t meaningful, such as the description of the item sold.

"You can’t use pawn shop rules because they don’t take into account what we do and what law enforcement needs to investigate this kind of theft." Even the seven-day hold rule is useless. "Our customers deal in thousands of pounds worth of metals," she said, usually with no brand names or marks. "There’s no way we could identify it."

Gallego said, "This is definitely a serious problem, but the county needs to talk to dealers about the situation. That’s the only way they’re going to come up with an efficient and realistic program for addressing it."

Beyond restricting the sale of the metals once they’re stolen, the best solution is preventing the theft, said Roger Yohem, vice president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. Although the home builders have been major victims of theft, he said the SAHBA approach has been to show ways to reduce thefts by keeping the metals away from where they can be taken.

"Anything the county does to address the problem is going to be a help, but there are some very simple things that can be done to prevent the theft," Yohem said, such as lighting storage areas and making sure the last person leaving a job site checks to see that everything is locked up.

"There are other things that can also be done, by contractors and the police, which can help. That’s why we’re meeting with them."

He said the police are telling association members what they can do, and the contractors are telling them what to look for. "That way, when the police notice something that isn’t right, they’ll know enough to see that as a red flag."

An example of what can be done, Yohem said, was provided by the Oro Valley Police Department, which set up a sting to catch a job site thief. Ricky Clauges is facing felony theft charges after taking the bait left by the department at a construction site that had been victimized several times before.

Public Affairs Office Liz Wright said, "We were being hit so hard, we decided to find out who was doing it. So, we borrowed a spool of copper, left it there and waited. An individual came by and hid the wire under a pile of pallets and boxes. Later that night, when he came back to pick it up, our officers were waiting."

She said, "The problem hasn’t been eliminated, but the number of incidents has gone way down." Inside Tucson Business