Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning July 2006 » Targetting scrap metal theft « Previous Next »
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1312
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20060927/NEW S01/609270391


quote:

Last week, the council introduced an amended ordinance that would require scrap dealers to track everyone they buy from, everything they buy, and give the police weekly logs of those sales.

The new law would also require dealers to install surveillance cameras and provide the police with the video on demand. The ordinance also would impose liens on any dealer that buys and resells stolen City of Detroit property, such as copper wiring from streetlight posts.

The ordinance also automatically would revoke the license of any scrap dealer found to break the new rules. The council hasn't yet voted to approve the measures. It plans to hold a public hearing Oct. 16.




sounds like a great step in the right direction
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Detroitstar
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Username: Detroitstar

Post Number: 180
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How about eliminating scrap metal resale in the city completely. Those that are in it for the business, not just a quick buck, can take their dealings to the suburbs. I have a feeling this would slow down buildings in the city being stripped.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3778
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

And in return suburbanites would refuse to cross the borders looking for hookers and quick dope deals.
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Itsjeff
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Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 6933
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I think it's unreasonable," said Joel Silverstein, who runs Silver's Metal Co., a wholesale junk dealer on the city's east side. He had planned to open a retail operation in the city, but said he'll open the business in the suburbs if the council approves the ordinance changes.

I'm taking up a collection to help speed his move to the suburbs.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3779
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Could we have a financial breakdown regarding administrative costs of this "collection"?

(Message edited by JamS on September 27, 2006)
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1313
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 8:58 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'd like to be a gold level contributor
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Exmotowner
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Username: Exmotowner

Post Number: 36
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 9:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I just read in USA today that there have been two deaths in Detroit already this year by scrappers cutting into live copper wires and getting electrocuted. Serves em right!. How stupid are they?
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Supersport
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Username: Supersport

Post Number: 10675
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 9:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

I'm taking up a collection to help speed his move to the suburbs.




Put me down for a contribution as well.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 646
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 9:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

An ordinance like this should have been passed many years ago. It's too late for many buildings, but hopefully it will pass and at least slow down the stripping of existing ones.
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Ordinary
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Username: Ordinary

Post Number: 41
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The one electrocution occurred in an alley behind a building on Epworth. I used to work in that area and a couple of my coworkers and I were talking to the guys who were redeveloping the site and they told us about it. They said the kid was about 18 years old and there was a sign saying "440 Volts". I guess he couldn't read. Sereiously, that is a shame.

As for the original post, I think the scrap dealers are already doing that. I know when I take a few odds and ends in, that I always have to give them my name and address. What is needed is better law enforcement and a crackdown on illegal scrap dealers.
I noticed this morning that the plastic covers that were put on the street light bases were cracking from exposure to sunlight. These were supposed to stop people from stealing the wires. What a joke! Somebody saw the city coming on that one. It would have been cheaper for the city to arrest the mongrels stealing the wires in the first place.
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 6867
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

...the plastic covers that were put on the street light bases were cracking from exposure to sunlight.





That is one of the reasons I hadn't figured on yet...snow removal equipment forcing a ton of snow on them when they're brittle from the cold, errant parallel parkers, bitter retirees aiming for the crowd at the bus-stop...those are a few more.

We really need to find out who made that purchase decision a few years ago to get those boot covers. There cannot be more than 10% surviving intact today...and I'd bet those are on dead-end streets!
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Gravitymachine
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Username: Gravitymachine

Post Number: 1314
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

there was a sign saying "440 Volts"


street lights are 3-phase?
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Southwestmap
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Username: Southwestmap

Post Number: 594
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I heard that Al Fields made the decision. He's something/someone in the Mayor's office. I imagine that he was sold a bill of goods. What we shouldbe asking is whether the City is acting to get its money back for not-as-promised goods.
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 2537
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 11:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

who installed them? who manufactured them?
Imagine if every tax paying detroiter picked up the pieces of one, took it back to the source, and said
"My tax dollars paid for these and I want my money back!"
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Southwestmap
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Username: Southwestmap

Post Number: 595
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 11:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

For much more on the shrouds, go here:

http://tu-tutimes.blogspot.com /

You won't be sorry!
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 6869
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 12:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Southwestmap,

Thanks. Priceless.


Too funny. (I couldn't bring myself to say it)
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Mtm
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Username: Mtm

Post Number: 111
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 3:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Southwest, my thanks, too!

Tu-Tu Funny! (I could!!)ballerina
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Southwestmap
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Username: Southwestmap

Post Number: 597
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 3:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think this is the only thing this guy has done. How could he do something so brilliant and then just disappear?
He does mention DetroitYes as a source of discussion of this topic (earlier).
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Ordinary
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Username: Ordinary

Post Number: 42
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 4:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gravitymachine,
Good question. This location was not a streetlight, it was some type of transformer behind the building.
What makes it even worse is that this device was locked inside a steel mesh cage and the people broke into it to get to the wire.

Ordinary
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2858
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 10:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

LOL, love the pink in that shroud website... it got me thinking about that South African Nobel Prize winning Bishop. What's his name... Desmond... geeze I can't remember his last name...
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Erikd
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Username: Erikd

Post Number: 734
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 12:17 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

"I think it's unreasonable," said Joel Silverstein, who runs Silver's Metal Co., a wholesale junk dealer on the city's east side. He had planned to open a retail operation in the city, but said he'll open the business in the suburbs if the council approves the ordinance changes.




This is heartbreaking news. I have been waiting years for a junk dealer to open up a retail operation in the city.

This would be a perfect fit for any of the up and coming retail areas in Detroit. Just think about it:

East Jefferson has multiple grocery stores, pharmacies, shoe stores, clothing stores, Radio Shack, Staples, video stores, banks, restaurants, Starbucks, etc. Despite the presence of all these stores, there is still no retail junk store.

Downtown has the same problem. Brooks Brothers, Jos A Bank, Borders, CVS, SportsMania, The Athletes Foot, Mark England, and Pangborn are just a few of the new stores that have opened in downtown Detroit.

All of these new stores, and STILL no retail junk dealer.

I can walk down the street to get a haircut, go to the post office, get lunch, buy a coffee, pick up bread, buy clothes, go to the bank, drop off my clothes at the dry cleaner or tailor, buy a book, or pick up some office supplies, but I have no retail store to shop at when I want to buy scrap metal.

I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to purchase 50 pounds of scrapped copper, but I had to live without it because there is no retail junk store in my neighborhood.

Now that somebody is thinking about opening a retail junk store, the city is fucking it all up. I am so sick of this shit. Detroit could have had a brand new retail junk store, but now it will probably go to the suburbs.

I bet the people in Royal Oak, Birmingham, and Somerset Mall are very exited about the possibility of adding a junk store to their retail mix. The suburbs have better retail districts than the city, and adding a junk store into the mix would be the nail in the coffin.

If you think the suburban retail is good now, just wait until you can stop by the new retail junk store, and finally purchase that pile of scrapped aluminum siding that you have been wanting for years.

*Sigh* Another opportunity wasted by the city...
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Cabasse
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Username: Cabasse

Post Number: 18
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 1:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

beautifully done erikd.

1) i'll second that serves 'em right about the electrocution. oops!

2) great idea! [requiring record keeping]
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Ordinary
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Username: Ordinary

Post Number: 43
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 10:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Erikd, Supersport, Burnsie, Gravitymachine,

Am I missing something here? I just think some decent police work and coverage would go farther in solving the problem than passing another ordinance that can't be enforced. Why are we blaming the scrap dealers, (if they're above board)?
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Thnk2mch
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Username: Thnk2mch

Post Number: 396
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 2:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How would something like this fit in?
______________________________ ___________________
Detroit towing firm is charged in shredding of 200 stolen cars

Norman Sinclair / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- When officers from the Detroit Police Auto Theft Unit raided the RLB Towing and Auto Care yard in July, they found more than 200 cars they believed were stolen.

Police said the cars were plucked off streets, freeways and driveways by predatory tow truck drivers who hooked up cars -- disabled or parked -- and hauled them to the RLB Towing yard at 12790 Westwood, just north off Interstate 96 on the city's west side.

If police had not intervened, the 200 stolen cars would have ended up in a commercial shredder where the tow truck operator was paid $300 for the scrap metal weight of the vehicles, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy.

On Wednesday, Worthy charged the owners of RLB Towing, Richard Lonzo Burton, 41, and his wife, Deshon Monique Watts, 36, each with 44 felony counts involving stealing and shredding the vehicles. Police have identified 90 of the 200 cars as reported stolen by owners or insurance companies.

"This was one of the largest auto theft rings in the state in recent memory," Worthy said. She said the couple bought the business in January and operated it as a criminal enterprise through July 21. She said Burton and Watts obtained bogus titles for the vehicles -- some as new as a 2006 Dodge Charger -- and then took them to the shredder operators as scrap.

Worthy said although prosecutors investigated the operators of the shredders, they could not bring criminal charges.

"The laws are stringent and protective of shredders, which are part of a larger industry," Worthy said.

Burton and Watts were charged with one count each of conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony that also carries a fine of $100,000. They also are charged with operating a chop shop, which is a 10-year felony. The remaining counts were for passing false vehicle titles and receiving and concealing motor vehicles, each punishable by five years and or $100,000 fines.

In addition, Burton was charged as a three-time habitual criminal. He was convicted of stealing a car in 1990 and served a two-year prison sentence for felony firearm. If convicted on any of the other charges, the habitual charge could result in a doubling of his sentence.

Burton and Watts should be arraigned today.

You can reach Norman Sinclair at (313) 222-2034 or nsinclair@detnews.com.


http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20060928/METRO /609280374
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Erikd
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Username: Erikd

Post Number: 735
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 3:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Am I missing something here? I just think some decent police work and coverage would go farther in solving the problem than passing another ordinance that can't be enforced.




That is a GREAT idea!

If the Detroit Police Department just had better "police work and coverage", I bet it WOULD go farther in solving the problem.

Why didn't anybody think of this before now?

The DPD has been forced to cut 1000 cops over the last five years, due to the shrinking city budget. The county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have done nothing to help offset this massive reduction of police in Detroit.

After cutting 1000 cops over the last five years, I have no idea why "police work and coverage" in Detroit hasn't gotten any better.

The solution is very simple. All we have to do is provide better "police work and coverage" with a 1000 less cops.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4520
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 4:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

lol!
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Ordinary
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Username: Ordinary

Post Number: 45
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 8:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Erikd,
You hurt my sensitive feelings!
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Royce
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Username: Royce

Post Number: 1841
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 12:45 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The question I have is, "What other material can replace copper and serve the same function?
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Mauser765
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Username: Mauser765

Post Number: 1065
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 6:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

scrappas
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Eastsidedog
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Username: Eastsidedog

Post Number: 735
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 1:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I watched as scrappers drove right down my street early in the morning with stolen copper plumbing, from a nearby house that's being renovated, DOZENS OF COPPER PIPES HANGING 3 OR 4 FEET OUT OF THE PASSENGER WINDOW IN PLAIN VIEW. They probably drove all the way to the scrap yard like that and no police even saw them or questioned them (I heard they sold the scrap for drug money).

You call the police they just let them out because the jails are full. Police protection and patrols would definitely have stopped them (one would hope). There has been more police in the general area lately (IV/WV) likely because of trouble in IV.

A country in Africa (which nation I can't remember) had a law that you could shoot poachers on sight AND collect a reward for their dead bodies.

No one deserves to die just for theft but sometimes it seems our modes of enforcing the laws are just plain inadequate. What will stop the scrappers? A better economy? Who knows...

(Message edited by eastsidedog on October 03, 2006)

(Message edited by eastsidedog on October 03, 2006)
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Rhymeswithrawk
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Username: Rhymeswithrawk

Post Number: 98
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 2:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

And in return suburbanites would refuse to cross the borders looking for hookers and quick dope deals.

I don't know about you, but I always cross into the suburbs for my drugs, not the other way around: cleaner women, cleaner drugs out in your neck of the woods, Jams.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3822
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 3:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh darn,
not satirical or mocking enough?

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