Just when I thought I heard the last about copper theft, it returns to the news. Last month, a man entered one of San Francisco’s public transportation tunnels and stripped approximately 16 feet of copper wiring used to power the train line. The theft occurred in the very early morning hours before the morning commute. The result was a three-hour delay for trains.

This brazen act of vandalism and theft came as a surprise to me for many reasons. First, the individual responsible for the theft could have easily been killed from the attempt. Second, copper thefts just won’t go away. For a while, we stopped hearing about copper theft in the media. This probably provided a false sense of security. I’m sure copper theft has continued to happen, but not on the scale that it was being reported.

So what is going on in your communities? Are you still seeing copper theft as a problem? And what are you doing to protect your copper wiring and your customer’s systems?