What will it take to end copper theft — and the havoc it wreaks — in B.C.?

Copper may no longer be used to make Canadian coins, but thieves who target the valuable metal still cost British Columbians a pretty penny.

The rose-coloured hardware is found in electrical wiring, transformers and pipes, and can be sold for anywhere from $2 to $4 per pound — making homes, construction sites and public infrastructure a prime target for thieves.

The safety risks theft carries were made painfully clear earlier this year, when RCMP said theft-weakened copper gas lines in downtown Prince George caused an explosion that sent three people to hospital, one of whom sustained severe burns all over her body.

But despite B.C. Hydro reporting an 80 per cent drop in thefts in the last decade, experts and metal recyclers say the province needs more than current laws to counteract the metal’s persistent allure and keep people safe.

“It’s really, to me, an unspoken crime,” said Tyler Mierzwa, a criminology masters student and researcher at Simon Fraser University.

“Everyone knows it happens, but they don’t really know the consequences.”

Drastic drop in past decade

Copper theft on public infrastructure has decreased drastically in B.C. since 2012, when a new law aimed at making it harder to sell stolen copper came into force.

B.C. Hydro says 63 recorded incidents of copper theft cost the Crown utility about $495,000 in stolen property and repairs in the last two years, down from about $1 million in damage annually in 2012.

The Metal Dealers and Recyclers Act (MDRA) requires sellers to show ID, and metal dealers not to use cash for payments over $50.

Dealers also need to record every transaction, and alert police if they have reasonable grounds to believe goods are stolen.

“The police have the authority to investigate and recommend criminal charges related to metal theft,” said a spokesperson for the B.C. ministry of public safety and solicitor general in a November statement to CBC News.

B.C. Hydro says it has also been installing protective measures at key infrastructure locations, and using security teams and law enforcement to encourage the public to report potential crimes. 

There is no clear estimate of how many people in B.C. have been injured or killed due to copper theft. WorkSafeBC says it doesn’t specifically track workplace injuries or deaths related to the crime.

Legislation a ‘burden’ to dealers

But some scrappers and experts say the laws are insufficient and onerous, driving business away from law-abiding buyers and towards an active unregulated market. 

“The legislation, while there’s a greater good at hand in reducing fatalities, reducing outages, reducing just overall consequences to society, it is unfortunately penalizing or burdening metal dealers,” said Mierzwa, whose undergraduate honours thesis examined catalytic converter and copper theft in B.C.

Dov Dimant, owner of Capital Salvage in New Westminster says metal dealing was “the wild west” before 2012, but the new rules are onerous to uphold and don’t all seem practical.

He’s frustrated he can’t accept passports, citizenship certificates or First Nations Status cards as IDs, and says the limit on cash transactions was bad for business, until he found out he was allowed to issue barcode vouchers for cash from a machine instead.

“I can’t hand someone $51 in cash, but I can give them a ticket where they can walk to the back of my property and get $51 and above in cash,” said Dimant. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

He also says it’s hard to tell which goods might be stolen and it feels “discriminatory” to cast suspicion on people who might have “the look of a thief.”

Mierzwa says B.C. should introduce a centralized online reporting system, like in Alberta, to ease the administrative burden on dealers and help police track potential trends and connections.

He also said the Canadian Criminal Code only uses the cost of the goods stolen, not the damage done, to determine the charge’s severity, and using the total cost would increase penalties and could help deter theft. 

B.C.’s ministry of public safety says MDRA compliance among regulated dealers is high, and it’s considering changes to the IDs they can accept from sellers as catalytic converter theft also persists.

The ministry “is looking at future public engagement around the theft of valuable metals,” said a statement from a spokesperson to CBC News.

“Any amendments made as a result of public consultation will impact all regulated metals, including copper.”

Calls for change beyond the law

Mierzwa and Dimant say preventing copper theft will take changes beyond laws, given perpetrators’ motivations vary.

“You still see people doing it out of survival,” said Mierzwa. “You still see people who realize, ‘Hey, I can make more money just going on a copper run than I can working a full week.'”

Dimant says his clientele has changed since the business opened in 1992, and providing more housing, health and employment services to people who are struggling would reduce theft.

“We could put a Band-Aid on it and slap everyone on the wrist every time they steal,” said Dimant.

“But at the end of the day, the problem is we just have too many people who are desperate and hungry, and I think the resources should be going towards helping these people get on their feet.”

Mierzwa says while more research is needed, the province should also help people and companies pay for protective measures to keep their copper secure because the costs for such measures can be prohibitive and “unfair.”

“How do you expect every single motorist or every single homeowner or construction company to pay out of their pocket to protect their piping or their wiring or their catalytic converters?” he said.

“It’s a huge burden and a costly one.”