With the economy in the doldrums and so many houses sitting vacant from foreclosure, more and more criminals are turning to metal theft and officers are scrambling to keep up.

Conyers Police Lt. Jack Dunn said metal theft is responsible for at least 35 percent of the burglaries, or 52 out of 147 burglaries, in the city in the past year.

“It’s kind of fluctuated with the market,” said Dunn. “Two years ago, we were having to direct our efforts at parked cars because they were getting under and stealing the catalytic converters. Since then you have the housing market crash; it has swapped and copper has become the valuable metal.”

In the county, at least 131 incidents of stolen property reported by the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office from July 2010 – June 2011 involved metal theft, including catalytic converters, copper, and other metals.

Metal theft isn’t just petty theft either. A 21-year-old Conyers man, Jonathan Warren, was arrested in May for stealing $50,000 worth of copper from a hotel construction site.

Also, though the thieves might typically receive only $30 to $50 for the metal they bring in to a recycling yard, the damage they cause can cost the homeowner thousands of dollars.

Landlord Tim Johnson said he had never had that problem until five years ago. But just within the last two weeks, two of his houses were struck by thieves who cut out copper in the walls and in the air conditioning units. 

“It irritates you. It makes you really mad,” said Johnson. “Yeah you have insurance on it, but the problem is, you have a deductible. It’s going to be $1000 out of my pocket no matter what.”

Local metal recyclers who comply with state laws and cooperate with investigators point out it can be hard to tell stolen scrap metal apart from legitimate scrap metal.

Pete Leonetti, owner of Allied Recycling on Old Covington Highway, said he cooperates with investigators. 

“There have been suspicious items to come through here but nothing that you can identify,” said Leonetti. “It’s a tough call. I think you would do more harm than any good if you suspect someone. They might feel like they were imposed upon if it was not a stolen item at all.”

He’s definitely seen business pick up recently. “In past it was not worth picking up with a one-time effort and little money coming in, but with cost going up, I’ve seen it definitely become worth it. In some cases it’s helped people who have been laid off, or have taken a cutback of some nature, to fill the gap.” 

Demand on the global market from developing nations such as India, China and Brazil, is helping to boost the metal prices that local scrap dealers see in Georgia.

Conyers Police Lt. Jack Dunn said many scrappers might not realize some of what they do can be considered theft. 

“If you can take it and sell it, the owner can take it and sell it. It has value and you can’t just take it without asking,” said Dunn.

Dunn said the recycle yards do cooperate with investigators. “It’s just they are recycling yards. They’re not the most organized. A lot of times, their records are kept on paper files and not computerized. It is a nightmare trying to go through it and locate what you’re looking for.”

Leonetti said his yard uses computerized records. “It’s a two way street,” he said, of working with investigators. “We’ve always given them information and had positive impact from them. A lot of times they come here and look in our software. The items are pretty much in there and they are used to seeing a report that give them the information they need rapidly.”

Another frustration investigators have sometimes is finding affected victims, especially with vacant or foreclosed homes.

Dunn said, “Even once we make the arrest, it is sometimes impossible to identify a victim because it’s is in the grey area of being foreclosed… and then getting a victim that cares enough to participate in the prosecution.”

Joe Bulat, co-chair the Southeast Metal Theft Task Force and organizer of the Metro Atlanta Metal Theft Task Force, said victim responsibility is crucial to stemming the tide of metal theft. The three other key components are participation of recyclers, participation of law enforcement, and prosecution. 

“It’s not where we need more laws,” said Bulat, a retired Atlanta Police Department officer. “We’ve got to be able to identify what’s being stolen. That’s the biggest issue. People are not taking ownership and marking (their property).”

Another critical tool is a free flow of information. The Southeast Metal Theft Task Force has an alert system that participating agencies can use to alert other agencies of metal theft incidents.

“That’s how we identify a lot of these criminals,” said Bulat. “You may have these same guys in Henry county, go into Atlanta, go into Conyers and commit other crimes.”

“What we do is help with information with law enforcement. A lot of people weren’t even working on it until it started getting pretty bad… Now the prosecutors are seeing this as a serious crime because of a lot of damage and discomfort for a lot of people.”

What can homeowners do to protect themselves against metal thefts? One is to mark metal, coils and other property in some way, such as spray painting, said Bulat. 

Other prevention measures include cages for air conditioning units and alarm systems that extend out from the home to air conditioning units. 

Although such measures aren’t fool proof, “The thief’s going to go to the path of least resistance,” said Dunn. “They’re going to take one that doesn’t have the prevention methods.”

For more information on the Southeast Metal Theft Task Force, go to http://taskforce.controlbynet.com

Bryan Fazio contributed to this article.