The Los Angeles City Council approved a pair of motions Wednesday to create a new LAPD Copper Wire Task Force and a reward program designed to encourage people to report the thefts and other streetlight crimes in the city.
The task force will be a joint operation between the LAPD’s Central Bureau and the Bureau of Street Lighting and focus on addressing the spike in copper wire crimes in downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights.
Why it matters
The thefts have become a more pressing problem, with streetlight repair reports increasing tenfold over the last five years, which officials have said creates public safety concerns.
“We have witnessed this issue escalate at a very alarming rate,” said Councilmember Kevin de León, who introduced the motion. “Just five years ago, we were dealing with 500 to 600 cases of copper wire theft each year. In the past fiscal year, that number skyrocket to a staggering 6,842 cases, with repair costs exceeding well over $20 million.”
De León added that Verizon reached out to his office Wednesday morning to report some of their fiber optic cables had been ripped out of the ground, which could affect internet access. Copper wire thieves also knocked out an entire fire alarm system for a city warehouse near the L.A. River in Boyle Heights last weekend, he added.
Some high-profile thefts
Councilmember Tim McOsker pointed to the “horrific” thefts of plaques from the Merchant Marines Memorial, a memorial to fishing industry families, and a memorial to a Japanese village on Terminal Island in his 15th district.
Putting at risk a train full of people, all…
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