LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A newly-formed regional copper theft task force is working to tackle crime across the Las Vegas Valley and collaborate on new laws to stop the flow of illegal sales.
In February, Clark County Chair Tick Segerblom tasked Sheriff Kevin McMahill with spearheading the regional effort to crack down on the massive thefts from public utilities.
“It’s happening on home air conditioners. The copper wire was stripped out of the streetlights on the freeway. This is a huge problem. It’s a problem that I’m working on, with the city, the county as well as the state legislature,” McMahill said.
Copper thefts are behind massive stretches of streetlight outages. According to county officials’ latest update, since early 2022, 970,710 feet of copper wire has been stolen from streetlights and public utilities (More than 368,220 feet has been replaced, according to county officials’ latest update). Roughly a third has been repaired, but Segerblom said there are roughly 1,800 open tickets left for work orders that need repairs.
County officials recently met with Metro Area command leaders to share insight on how thieves target streetlights, and how to identify them.
“Noticing that the bottoms of all the street lamps have been opened up. The cap’s open and exposing wires. The chances are, if there are ten in a row like that, someone’s coming back to pull all the wire out of those street poles,” said Commissioner Michael Naft, who has been working with Metro Police and other local leaders on the task force. “It’s also recognizing the sign of what this material looks like when it’s being pushed in a shopping cart or in the back of somebody’s trunk, when they’re perhaps being stopped for something else,” Naft said.
McMahill said thefts from construction sites are underreported, and a team of officers is working with builders to track and stop thieves.
“That construction theft detail has been wildly successful and already recovered over $7 million in product,” McMahill said.
McMahill said the passage of new local and state laws is crucial to crack down on the crime.
“If we have the laws that get passed in both the city and the county and even at the legislative level, I think that will significantly reduce the copper theft that we have,” the Sheriff said.
FOX5 told you how Naft proposed a new county ordinance to make it harder for thieves to sell and businesses to buy stolen copper. Naft said the county and other local jurisdictions are still working to craft their ordinances.
“It’s really important that we work collaboratively with all of our neighboring cities, because you don’t want to pass a law that impacts on one side of the street but not the other,” Naft said.
Naft, county officials and local law enforcement are working on the next step: a passage of a state law to curb the sale and purchase of illegal copper. Naft said it could mirror a 2023 Nevada law on catalytic converters that made possession of a stolen item a felony.
“What I believe should happen is that possession of “seven strand” copper wire– which is typically only used by government and only purchased and paid for by taxpayers– should be illegal to be in possession,” Naft said. If law enforcement officers see somebody walking around or carrying “seven strand” copper wire, they know that chances are that’s stolen,” he said.
Naft said officials are still working to find a lawmaker to introduce a bill during Nevada’s next legislative session in Spring 2025.
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