Law Enforcement Intel: Materials Theft Background And Resources (CSO, ISRI via LII)

I don't write much about law enforcement intel here. We have three experts on staff at Mercyhurst and others (such as Deborah Osborne over at Analyst's Corner and David Jimenez at Intelligence Is The Future) cover this topic with much more authority than I do.

I ran across these two articles on materials theft recently, however, in the Librarian's Internet Index (an excellent source of reliable open source material) and, since I had not seen them elsewhere, I thought I would write a quick post about them.

Red Gold Rush: The Copper Theft Epidemic is a good introductory article concerning the process of metal theft including some good intelligence indicators like this one: "What he had found was a regular burn site for metal thieves. In fact, it is the perfect burn site, with a concrete surface to burn on and available running water to control and put out fires. Also, the site is surrounded by metal to steal. A nearby communications tower had already been looted so much that, at one point, 911 service was knocked out. Plus, there is a scrap yard nearby where the stolen metal can be sold."

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries also seems to provide a number of good resources about how to identify and prevent metal theft including a document on Recommended Practices and Procedures for Minimizing the Risks of Purchasing Stolen Scrap Materials.