Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Thursday announced plans to add training for law enforcement officials and scrap dealers to combat metal theft, a problem that can cost Arkansas businesses millions of dollars a year in repairs.
Rutledge said she's learned about the growing problem of metal theft over the past few years from traveling the state and talking with farmers, business owners, churches and school administrators.
"We want to disincentivize the thieves from stealing [metal]," Rutledge said at a news conference Thursday morning. "We know if no one is buying the scrap, no one will steal it. We have laws to combat [metal theft], but we do not have and have not had the resources to properly combat it."
Arkansas Farm Bureau President Randy Veach said Arkansas ranked fifth last year in insurance claims for metal theft, and can end up costing farmers and others millions of dollars to repair.
"Not only is it expensive [to repair], but one of the major expenses is downtime," Veach said. "When you have a pivot [irrigation system] that won't run when you need it to … it gets your bottom line."
AT&T Arkansas Director of External Affairs Ronald Dedman said thieves target the company's cables for copper wire. So far, the business has had 65 cases of cable theft this year, costing about $650,000, he said. Last year's cable thefts totaled 130 at a cost of about $1.5 million.
The attorney general announced that agents from her office will conduct trainings across the state for law enforcement and scrap metal dealers. The trainings will teach both parties what violates state laws regarding metal theft and how to recognize patterns from thieves in their area, she said. Rutledge will use "existing resources" by using agents already employed by her office to conduct the training, she said.
Authorities will also be able to receive training at a law enforcement summit hosted by Rutledge's office sometime in the fall, she said.
Agents from the attorney general's office will start conducting controlled sales to scrap metal dealers, also in the fall. Those businesses with a violation will receive an initial warning, but multiple violations will result in citations with fines up to $1,000, Rutledge said.
See Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.
