Domestic Urban Terrorists Living Up to Their Name

It seems that copper theft is on the rise in Central Florida, and has even been discussed in a meeting at Orlando Police Department a while back.

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Attending the meeting were over 60 representatives from law enforcement agencies across the state along with corporate security representatives from various corporations who have and continue to be victims of copper thefts. Copper theft continues to be an ongoing problem throughout the state and the nation and we are committed to identifying those responsible and making them accountable for their actions. We continue to ask the community to help in our efforts by contacting the Orlando Police Department as it relates to any suspicious activity they observe.

Thieves often target construction sites for copper building materials, as well as abandoned houses and commercial properties that are in foreclosure making the properties unsaleable.They also target power substations because of the large amount of copper present there, and they use trucks to pull out copper wire from underground conduits that feeds street light poles.

Copper theft can disable transportation systems such as railroad equipment. Telecommunication systems such as emergency services, cellular towers, internet and telephone land lines can also be disabled by thieves cutting wires, which begs the question, could stealing copper that disables part of our infrastructure weaken our nation against terrorist attacks? According to the FBI, these actions are in fact a threat to National Security.

Here is an article discussing copper thieves from Orlando.

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Deputies responded and seized the truck with its stolen load. The arrested driver was identified as 29 year old Craig Hunter of Orlando FL.

Copper theft has been a major problem in California for years.