Dan's Papers - June 27, 2008 - Gas, Copper, TVs are the New "Hot" Commodities

Throughout the Hamptons, there has been a rise in copper, gasoline and television theft, thanks to the dramatic increases in their value. With nationwide gas prices officially averaging over four dollars per gallon, and the price of copper at record levels, would-be criminals have a growing incentive to steal. These increases, combined with a slumping economy on the national level, have East End builders and homeowners taking action to prevent theft of the new hot commodites.

Copper theft is a very interesting type of crime because an entire network of criminals needs to be in place to make the caper work. First, of course, is the actual thief who walks up to a house or construction site and takes the copper, but there also needs to be a buyer, who is often a corrupt copper dealer who buys the stolen goods at a discount from the thief and re-sells it back to the market.

Tim Dalene, a construction manager at Telemark Inc. in Bridgehampton, explains how builders and homeowners are going to great lengths to protect what are essentially water pipes. "Builders are contacting alarm companies and putting alarm sensors on the copper leaders so that if there is any disruption, an alarm goes off. It's not all that different from putting an alarm on a door or a window of a house."

Dalene went on to explain the use of video camera technology connected to the Internet to monitor copper. Today, a security camera business can set up digital video cameras in homes or at construction sites that stream the video to a website and save the video to a computer. Leif Neubauer, owner of Hamptons Security in Westhampton, has noticed an increase in business to prevent theft from construction sites. "That has simply become a large part of my business. When I first started, I mostly set up cameras in stores. But now when I get a call from a builder, I know exactly why they are calling."

Dalene agrees. "In general, there has been more theft on job sites than ever. Builders and homeowners are putting up cameras. When the economy is down, it's a good time to be in the security business. On one of our job sites we had a guy steal $2,000 worth of copper from an electrician in broad daylight."

Without a doubt, the state of the national economy is impacting the increase in these crimes as more people are looking to make a quick buck. The thefts are not just limited to the East End, either; across the United States, copper and gasoline theft is growing and actions are being taken to limit the problem.

Gasoline theft is also being reported more and more, but not directly to police. While police have received more reports of gasoline theft, chances are the thefts happen more frequently but are not reported. "These days, gas is like gold. There are a lot of people getting close to $100 a fill-up. If you fill up every week, that's $400 a month for your average guy with a truck. That is just ridiculous," said a Hamptons gasoline manager who asked to remain nameless.

Of course, gasoline isn't resold back onto the market - it's simply used up by the thief who needs to get around just like everybody else.

The other Hamptons items that are hot for criminals are flat-screen televisions. At least once a week, a flat-screen television is reported stolen from a home on the East End. The reason? Flat-screen televisions on the black market sell easily, and can even be sold at auction using websites like eBay for prices at half their value. Just as they can with copper, criminals can quickly cash in on the stolen item, and have a relatively easy time finding a consumer for a hot flat-screen television without the help of a middle man. With a flat-screen television costing around $2,000, a stolen one can be a steal at $1,000 - no pun intended.