Copper Wire theft is becoming a multimillion-dollar problem in California, prompting a roundtable discussion on the matter in downtown L.A. Thursday.
“In 2021, we had 71 incidents of copper theft. Last year, it jumped to 2,258,” AT&T California President Susan Santana told the group of more than 2 dozen officials from law enforcement agencies, legislators, and the telecom industry. “So this is really an epidemic, a communications epidemic.”
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According to state Attorney General Rob Bonta, California ranks 4th in the U.S. overall in losses from metal thefts to the telecom industry and infrastructure, but it’s not just financial losses that concern him and the police departments.
“L.A.’s residents are getting hit hard as well,” Bonta said. “Cable damage in South L.A. has taken down residents’ landline phones. We had, vandalism that caused street lights to go out in Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights and El Sereno. The city estimated repairs would come in at about $17 million.”…