Glad You Asked: Of meth and metal

By Jill Decker

I’ve seen a couple of reports of copper wiring stolen around town, and the incidents have seemed to be related to methamphetamines. Why do meth heads need copper wire?

I relied on Sgt. Terry Gonsalves of the Napa City Police Department to help me out on this question. He confirmed that in many cases the people stealing copper tubing are meth users and they’re not just doing it in Napa. Gonsalves said it’s a problem all over California and far beyond.

I remember that there was a restriction set on certain cold medicine because of a connection to making meth, so I asked if copper is used in meth labs to cook the drug. He said it has to do with making money, not making meth.

Metal thieves take copper and other metal wire and sell it as scrap to recycle yards, Gonsalves said. They also take copper piping, construction tools, aluminum guardrails on the highway and extension cords with copper inside them. He said they strip away the rubber and there’s no identifying marks on the metal then they sell it for scrap.

“Quite a few” reports of theft at construction areas and remodel job sites have prompted the police department to encourage construction companies to be vigilant about how their sites are secured, Gonsalves said. The PD suggests being aware of how the site looks to a potential metal thief. Keep storage containers secured with very strong locks and fence the property well. If it’s a long project, consider factoring in the cost of security. The PD puts extra patrol officers out, Gonsalves said, but they can’t do it all and private security teams have called in suspicious activity to the PD more than once.

For homeowners, he suggests locking up tools and materials each night.

So why the metal at construction sites?

Gonsalves said addicts, when they get desperate for money, look around for ways to get it. He painted a scenario of a construction worker with a growing chemical addiction looking around the job site he has been working on and seeing all of that scrap metal that he knows could be sold for a nice profit. Gonsalves said when you’re feeling the pull of a powerful addiction like meth, you look at the world differently — searching for any way to get fast money to feed the habit. By now, he said, the knowledge and practice of stealing metal has spread to a much wider audience, many people know about it and try it. People become familiar with what can be sold if their addiction is taking over.

If Napans ever see something suspicious, even if they’re not sure what it means, Gonsalves encouraged a phone call to the police department business office at 257-9223. If you see a personal or property crime in place call 911 or, from a cell in Napa, 253-0911.

What is Glad You Asked?

Glad You Asked attempts to answer readers’ questions. So if you’re wondering about issues on either side of the law, send your question to me at jdecker@napanews.com or 256-2215. I’ll dig into the dark side of Napa to find your answer.

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