Have street lights gone dark in your neighborhood? That could be due to copper wire theft.
Increasing thefts from light poles across the Greater Los Angeles region have forced cities and utilities to get creative, and L.A. has been cracking down on enforcement.
L.A. city councilmember Paul Krekorian recently announced a wave of arrests at metal dealers in the San Fernando Valley.
The darkening rundown
The allure of copper wire has been an issue around the country for years. It’s in plenty of infrastructure, from streetlights to phone cables, and even train tracks.
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But it’s also valuable, leading people to steal thousands of copper wires out of the nooks and crannies of L.A. to sell for quick cash.
“We know that Los Angeles, like cities throughout the country, has really been ravaged by the theft of metal,” Krekorian said last week.
The city has a network of 223,000 streetlights, but not all are lit. There’s currently a backlog of lighting outage repairs for the Bureau of Street Lighting.
“Many people may think of this as a minor crime, a petty sort of theft,” Krekorian added. “But it is anything but that. The theft of metal in this city has resulted in repeated, very expensive repairs of the public's infrastructure.”
In February, a new LAPD task force formed to curb copper wire and other heavy metal thefts. More than 1,600 pounds of copper wire has been recovered with the recent arrests, which Krekorian said is worth about $40,000.
How thefts are affecting L.A.
Neighborhoods, busy street corners, and high-traffic corridors have wound up in darkness after thefts.
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If there’s a streetlight repair to be made anywhere in the city of Los Angeles, residents can report that outage:
- by calling 3-1-1
- through the MyLA311 App
- emailing bsl.streetlighting@lacity.org to fill out a street lighting service request online form.
Keep in mind, there is a backlog. Repairs may not be made quickly.
In 2024 alone, publicly available data for MyLA311 app shows people reported more than 19,000 streetlight issues. That does not include streetlight reports to other agencies, and not all of it may be for copper wire theft, but it’s clear that lighting L.A. is a struggle.
Lack of light creates a safety issue for cars and people alike. When there are no lights, crashes are more likely.
While it’s unclear just how much the darkness has affected crime in the city, studies have shown that properly lighted streets can lower that.
How local officials are responding
Aside from arrests, the L.A. City Council passed multiple motions last week aimed at reducing metal thefts.
Officials will be looking into whether it’s feasible to repair light outages with solar-powered equipment, which would reduce the Bureau of Street Lighting’s need for copper wire.
The city is also looking into copper wire thefts in telecommunications cables that hang below power lines. According to the council, these kinds of cables aren’t something an average person would have, so they’ve directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance that makes possession of these cables illegal, except for telecommunications companies and their approved third-parties.
Tracking has also been an issue with thefts. When arrests have been made, it’s been a challenge to identify what copper wire is city-owned. A system will be developed to label or brand copper wire it uses.
“The arrests that have taken place … should be sending a strong signal to people who want to try to make a quick buck by purchasing stolen metal,” Krekorian said. “We're coming after you.”
