As Minnesota spends millions on copper theft, recyclers crack the ‘Whac-A-Mole’ code in Texas

More than a decade ago in a city more than a 1,000 miles away, people were dying for copper wires.

It was around 2006 in Houston, Texas, and police Sgt. Robert Carson noticed that more and more would-be thieves were scaling utility poles to tamper with wires. Some hoped to avoid paying their electricity bill. Others were “just flat out trying to get the copper.”

“They were cutting bad wires and wires they shouldn’t be cutting, and ultimately lost their lives doing so,” Carson said. “The department realized then that, one, we needed to get this [info] out to the public, this is a very bad deal. So they started the metal theft unit. Then they started thinking: Where is this copper going?”

That unit grew into a vital arm of the department, which monitors dozens of scrapyards and investigates metal thefts reported by the city’s 2 million residents. The work has drawn praise and interest from officials in Dallas, Colorado and elsewhere. As Minnesota works to suppress a rise in copper thefts affecting cities across the nation, recycling professionals say Houston’s metal theft unit is a shining example for cities to learn from.

As sergeant for the Houston Police Department’s Metal Theft Unit, Carson helps to manage six investigators who oversee up to 91 scrapyards in the city. Two detectives within the unit “do nothing but inspect scrapyards,” Carson said, to ensure they follow the law.

The unit shifted its focus to catalytic converters in 2021 as thieves across the nation stole the car parts to sell valuable metals inside: platinum, palladium and rhodium. But as those metal prices decreased and states issued laws curbing catalytic converter thefts, the price of copper resurged. A growing number of thieves began stealing copper from light poles and communication wires.

Carson estimates the price of copper has increased by 500% since 2000.

“It became a huge issue. It was costing businesses a lot of money,” he said, explaining that employees could not log in for remote work because thieves cut copper and fiber optic wires used for internet access.

“So your internet’s gone, it’s affecting banks, hospitals, pharmacies, military intelligence things, national security. If people can’t get on the internet, we’ve got problems.”

Minnesota officials noted an increase in copper thefts in 2020 when the price for copper reached a new high. As the metal’s value grew, the number of people attempting to steal it rose. Thieves stripped copper wire from thousands of streetlights, darkening miles of sidewalks, park trails and street intersections. Family members believe those thefts led to the death of Steven Wirtz, a 64-year-old man struck by a motorist in 2023 while walking along a road darkened by copper thieves.

St. Paul spent $1.2 million that year to repair damage caused by such thieves, but the surge in thefts affected cities across Minnesota. Minneapolis reportedly spent at least $450,000 last year repairing copper thieves’ damage. A former employee for the city of Eagan was charged with stealing $4,000 in copper wire from the city last year, and two men caused more than $10,000 in damage while stealing copper wire from a communications tower outside Little Falls.

Gov. Tim Walz and others lobbied for legislation to address copper thefts, signing a law that went into effect this January requiring a license for people selling copper. Despite the impending law and solutions ranging from welded panels to duct tape, thieves found new ways to strip copper in Minnesota last year. Some climbed into manholes, utility tunnels and abandoned homes to cut the valuable metal from service lines.

Xcel Energy representative Kevin Coss says the company recorded more than 90 metal thefts in Minnesota last year. More than half of those thefts happened in the Twin Cities, and the cost to address all the year’s thefts totaled more than $400,000.

Tim White is CenturyLink’s regional vice president for engineering, construction and operations, managing work for CenturyLink sites in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota for more than a decade. White said they are replacing copper wire with fiber optic cable every day to prevent future wire thefts, but help from the community is vital.

The company noted a 207% increase in Minnesota in 2024, “but 80 percent of those occurrences have been in the last roughly 90 days,” White said. Many of those thefts proved catastrophic, damaging lines that serve homes and city residents.

“So those damages very much feel, and have physical requirements, that are like any sort of natural disaster — and in some cases can be more challenging to resolve.”

St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said the city spent more than $2 million last year to address copper thefts, explaining that officials spent more in order to hire crews focused on replacing stolen copper. But as a growing number of thieves have shifted to stealing copper from phone boxes and utility services, Kershaw says recyclers must help.

“The Whac-A-Mole is real. We prevented [thieves] from popping up out of one hole, so to speak, and they just moved over to the next one,” Kershaw said, adding that thieves subverted most solutions suggested by residents and city officials. “The theft [numbers] went up a little bit, that’s the bad news. The good news is the rate of increase went down.”

St. Paul crews found a way to prevent the re-theft of copper from lights last year, but some residents with landline phones lost 911 service after thieves cut copper from utility lines. Around 180 people have applied for a state license to sell copper, but Kershaw said officials will measure if the law whether effective or not after several months.

“We think we have a solution strategy in the new law that doesn’t impact general contractors … [or] anybody who, as a normal course of their business, would have a lot of scrap copper.”

Some Minnesota recyclers disagree.

The Recycled Materials Association’s Upper Midwest Chapter sued Grace Arnold, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Commerce, claiming the copper licensing law is an unconstitutional separation of powers that gives Arnold sweeping authority and little guidance. Industry leaders cited in the suit said they worry that all Minnesotans selling scrap metal will need a license, and a Minnesotan who owns 14 recycling facilities said the bill could be “irrevocably catastrophic” for the industry.

Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing denied the lawsuit’s request to stop the copper licensing law, ruling that the law’s implementation “far outweighed” the impact on scrap metal workers.

As officials and stakeholders wait to measure the law’s effectiveness, Sgt. Toy Vixayvong with the St. Paul Police Department said cooperation will be important as investigators work with recyclers to prevent more copper metal theft.

“It takes collaboration from the recycling company, the police department, the victims, we all need to work together. It’s affecting everybody,” Vixayvong said.

Few may know that better than Sgt. Carson in Houston.

Carson said his department gathered stakeholders in recycling and communication every month in order to see their perspective on the issue. Though some Houston investigators must push recycling facilities to follow state laws, Carson stressed that they are are not trying to demonize an industry — “we’re just trying to gain compliance.”

“I think we’re seeing a decrease in the thefts, but one of the things we’re able to do is share information,” Carson said, citing cases where investigators' relationship with recyclers and communication companies helped find stolen scrap metal fast.

“We’ve tried to get everybody involved. Not one group is going to solve that problem alone. … If there’s anything you can take away from this, it’s ‘getting the whole group together is what helps us.’”