Syracuse police have started a new investigation unit, called Operation Copperhead, to stop the theft of scrap metals.
Syracuse Police Sergeant Tom Connellan said, “We have detectives that originally went out to investigate pawn shops trying to find some property that may have been stolen. What we’ve had to do is refocus the efforts of some of those guys and put them towards going to these metal recovery guys.”
Sgt. Conellan says that there has been an average of 10-15 metal thefts per week in the last year.
Russ Gower, owner of Central New York Resource Recovery, has been working with police to identify thieves. Gower says that he has come into contact with several thieves but it’s difficult to distinguish between the thieves and legitimate metal dealers. “We’ve had women, men, old, young, some appear to be pretty affluent, they come in nice vehicles but they’re still thieves.
Sgt. Connellan suggests people spray paint their valuable metals so that they can be identified easier if stolen.
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