As Minnesota spends millions on copper theft, recyclers crack the ‘Whac-A-Mole’ code in Texas

More than a decade ago in a city nearly 1,200 miles away, people were dying for copper wires.

It was around 2006 in Houston, and police Sgt. Robert Carson noticed that more and more would-be thieves were scaling utility poles to tamper with wires. Some hoped to avoid paying their electricity bill. Others, he said, were “just flat out trying to get the copper.”

“They were cutting bad wires and wires they shouldn’t be cutting, and ultimately lost their lives doing so,” Carson said. “The department realized then that, one, we needed to get this [info] out to the public, this is a very bad deal. So they started the metal theft unit. Then they started thinking: Where is this copper going?”

That unit grew into a vital arm of the Houston Police Department, which monitors dozens of scrapyards and investigates metal thefts reported by the city’s 2 million residents. The work has drawn praise and interest from officials in Dallas, Colorado and elsewhere. As Minnesota works to suppress a rise in copper thefts affecting cities across the nation, recycling professionals say Houston’s metal theft unit is a shining example for cities to learn from.

As sergeant with the Police Department’s Metal Theft Unit, Carson helps to manage six investigators who oversee up to 91 scrapyards in the city. Two detectives in the unit “do nothing but inspect scrapyards,” he said, to ensure they follow the law.

The unit shifted its focus to catalytic converters in 2021 as thieves across the nation stole the car parts to sell valuable metals inside: platinum, palladium and rhodium. But as those metal prices decreased and states issued laws curbing catalytic converter thefts, the price of copper surged again. A growing number of thieves began stealing copper from light poles and communication wires.

Carson estimates the price of copper has increased by 500% since 2000.

“It became a huge issue. It was costing businesses a lot of money,” he said, explaining that employees could not log in for remote work because thieves cut copper and fiber optic wires used for internet access.

“So your internet’s gone; it’s affecting banks, hospitals, pharmacies, military intelligence things, national security. If people can’t get on the internet, we’ve got problems.”

Minnesota officials noted an increase in copper thefts in 2020 when the price for copper reached a new high. As the metal’s value grew, the number of people attempting to steal it rose. Thieves stripped copper wire from thousands of streetlights, darkening miles of sidewalks, park trails and street intersections. Family members say they believe those thefts led to the death of Steven Wirtz, a 64-year-old man struck by a motorist in 2023 while walking along a road darkened by copper thieves.

St. Paul spent $1.2 million that year to repair damage caused by such thieves, but the surge in thefts affected cities across Minnesota. Minneapolis reportedly spent at least $450,000 in 2024 repairing copper thieves’ damage. A former employee for the city of Eagan was charged with stealing $4,000 in copper wire from the city last year, and two men caused more than $10,000 in damage while stealing copper wire from a communications tower outside Little Falls.

Gov. Tim Walz and others lobbied for legislation to address copper thefts, signing a law that went into effect this January requiring a license for people selling copper. Despite the impending law and solutions ranging from welded panels to duct tape, thieves found new ways to strip copper in Minnesota last year. Some climbed into manholes, utility tunnels and abandoned homes to cut the valuable metal from service lines.

Xcel Energy spokesman Kevin Coss said the company recorded more than 90 metal thefts in Minnesota last year. More than half of those thefts were in the Twin Cities, and addressing the damage cost more than $400,000.

Tim White is CenturyLink’s regional vice president for engineering, construction and operations, managing work for CenturyLink sites in Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota for more than a decade. White said the company is replacing copper wire with fiber optic cable every day to prevent wire thefts but help from the community is vital.

The company said thefts increased 207% in Minnesota in 2024; White said 80% of them took place in about the past 90 days. Many proved catastrophic, damaging lines that serve homes and city residents.

“So those damages very much feel, and have physical requirements, that are like any sort of natural disaster — and in some cases can be more challenging to resolve,” White said.

St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said copper thefts cost the city more than $2 million last year and officials had to spend more hire crews focused on replacing the stolen wire.

But as a growing number of thieves have shifted to stealing copper from phone boxes and utility services, Kershaw said recyclers must help.

“The Whac-A-Mole is real,“ he said. ”We prevented [thieves] from popping up out of one hole, so to speak, and they just moved over to the next one,” Kershaw said, adding that thieves got around most solutions suggested by residents and city officials.

“The theft [numbers] went up a little bit; that’s the bad news. The good news is the rate of increase went down.”

St. Paul crews found a way to prevent the repeated theft of copper from lights last year, but some residents with landline phones lost 911 service when thieves pilfered utility lines.

Around 180 people have applied for a state license to sell copper, and Kershaw said officials will measure the licensing law’s effectiveness after several months.

“We think we have a solution strategy in the new law that doesn’t impact general contractors … [or] anybody who, as a normal course of their business, would have a lot of scrap copper.”

Some Minnesota recyclers disagree.

In December, the Recycled Materials Association’s Upper Midwest Chapter sued state Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold, claiming the copper licensing law is an unconstitutional separation of powers that gives Arnold sweeping authority and little guidance.

Industry leaders cited in the suit said they worry that all state residents selling scrap metal will need a license. A Minnesota owner of 14 recycling facilities said the bill could be “irrevocably catastrophic” for the industry.

Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing denied the plaintiff’s request to block the law, ruling that its implementation “far outweighed” the impact on scrap metal workers.

As officials and stakeholders wait to measure the law’s effectiveness, St. Paul police Sgt. Toy Vixayvong said cooperation will be important as investigators work with recyclers to prevent more copper theft.

“It takes collaboration from the recycling company, the police department, the victims, we all need to work together. It’s affecting everybody,” Vixayvong said.

Few may know that better than Sgt. Carson in Houston.

Carson said his department gathered stakeholders in recycling and communication every month to hear their perspective on the issue. He said that though investigators must push recycling facilities to follow state laws, they are are not trying to demonize the industry: “We’re just trying to gain compliance.”

“I think we’re seeing a decrease in the thefts, but one of the things we’re able to do is share information,” Carson said, citing cases where investigators' relationship with recyclers and communication companies helped to quickly find stolen scrap metal.

“We’ve tried to get everybody involved. Not one group is going to solve that problem alone. … If there’s anything you can take away from this, it’s ‘getting the whole group together is what helps us.’”