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LA to offer up to $5,000 reward to help catch copper and metal thieves
According to the Bureau of Street Lighting, 40% of streetlight repairs are due to copper wire theft.
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Los Angeles is offering as much as $5,000 to people who supply information that helps police catch thieves who steal copper wire or metal from city infrastructure, including plaques, tombstones, statues and street lighting.
The vote: The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-2 Tuesday to approve the program. Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez voted no.
Details on the reward: If you provide information that leads to the "identification, apprehension and conviction” of a metal or wire thief, you could get a monetary reward, according to the ordinance. The amount of money depends on the type of offense, with up to $5,000 for information related to felony theft and $1,000 for misdemeanor theft.
The background on the ordinance: In 2024, Councilmember Traci Park and then-Councilmember Kevin de León introduced the idea for the reward program. The city attorney presented the draft ordinance to the public safety committee earlier this month. Councilmember John Lee, who represents parts of the valley and heads the committee, told LAist in an interview that if a reward program “incentivizes” someone to come forward with information, it’s money “well spent by the city.”
More from Soto-Martinez: Last week during the ordinance’s first vote in council, Soto-Martinez cast doubt on the efficacy of such reward programs. He urged his colleagues to instead prioritize funding city services to repair and fortify infrastructure that’s targeted by thieves.
Support from private industry: Representatives from telecommunications companies spoke out in support of the reward program during the public comment period of the meeting. Noel Pallais, a local external affairs representative for AT&T, said copper wire theft in the state has “reached crisis levels” with 95% of such incidents occurring in Los Angeles.
Not the only reward program: Since June, AT&T has offered up to $20,000 for information related to crime affecting its infrastructure, including copper wire theft. A spokesperson said that since instituting the reward, AT&T has received at least two dozen tips. Payouts can take several months or more than a year to be granted “due to the length of the adjudication process,” the spokesperson added.
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