Putting the Squeeze On Broadband Copper Robbers

nk497 writes "As the price of copper rises, thieves have taken to stealing broadband cables, taking out internet connections and slowing down the rollout of super-fast broadband by giving engineers more work to do. To battle the criminals, UK provider BT has 21 investigators on staff to track down thieves and has started using SmartWater bombs that spray stolen property and the criminals. The SmartWater liquid carries a DNA fingerprint that links a criminal to the scene of the crime and police units carrying ultra-violet light detectors can use the incriminating stains to make an arrest after the trap has been sprung. 'We had one case recently where someone in Dagenham was stopped and searched after acting suspiciously and the police used a UV light on them and could show that they had been tampering with the equipment,' said Auguste. The SmartWater liquid can also be pasted inside cables, making them easier to trace — and less appealing to scrap metal buyers, helping to cut demand for stolen copper."

Re:Perhaps

[Anonymous Coward]

fibers are stolen too, on the chance they contain copper after all.

A dumped stretch of fiber in a ditch after a pointless theft no longer carries any bits of light.

Simple solution

[germansausage]

Do the same for scrap metal dealers what they do here for pawnshops. Put a four week hold on all payments. Payment by cheque only, mailed to the name and address of the government ID of the person selling the scrap metal. Discourages 90% of the "disorganized" (i.e. drug addicts and homeless) opportunistic or desperation type theft. The delay also lets the power and telco companies come around and retrieve their stolen goods before they get shipped off or melted down.

Re:Scum Bags

[Anonymous Coward]

Stories like this warm my heart and give me confidence that there is still justice in the universe:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Man_electrocuted_in_copper_wire_theft.html [mysanantonio.com]

http://www.kens5.com/news/Man-loses-arms-and-legs-in-copper-theft-83398667.html [kens5.com]

Even if a copper wire thief isn't killed, if they are caught this should be their punishment anyway. Strip the insulation off of a 100ft extension cord, wrap them in it from head to toe, remove the magnetic breaker and shove some bus wire in its place, plug the cord in, and watch that fucker light up like some Christmas lights from hell.

Mod Parent Up

[hedwards]

If I had mod points, I'd mod you up. One of the things I've noticed is that you can often walk out of a store through a beeping loss control device, by behaving as if it isn't going off. Also certain shops with those detectors have ones that malfunction and the staff tends to ignore it. It's probably because store staff don't have arresting power in misdemeanor theft around here.

It applies to most things, if you don't want somebody executing a felony arrest warrant on you, the easiest way to avoid that is by not driving like an idiot. It's not fool proof, but it's the most common way for those arrest warrants to lead to an arrest.

Re:Economic opportunity

[Pojut]

Back when I was working as a mechanic, we had a guy that came around and bought up all our scrap. He was doing pretty well for himself...likely earning as much if not more than we were working in the shop. He ended up disappearing for a couple of months...when he returned, he said that he had been almost caught ripping copper out of a construction site (something he did regularly, apparently...which explains his lavish lifestyle given his collecting scrap life.)

He said he could make more money in a single copper run than he could in nearly three weeks worth of scrap collecting. I don't think opportunities or a lower income gap are the problems...I think it's an activity that pays really well compared to the effort required, at least if our old scrap guy is any indication.

Big problem in Africa

[Anonymous Coward]

This was a big problem in East Africa when I lived in the region. This is also the reason why wireless really took off, with things like WiMax and 3G becoming ubiquitous in all the major cities. The advent of the fiber optic cables connecting to the rest of the world further supported the existing wireless network. It's a perfect example of leapfrogging technologies. Besides, only about 15% of people ever had access to old copper phone lines anyway. ;)

Re:Perhaps

[confused one]

People have pulled fiber thinking it's copper...

Re:Perhaps

[willda]

Now there's a novel concept! I (& I assume most everyone in this forum) have to work for a living and the things I have. Guess I'll never understand why some people believe it is their "right" to take those thing from us.