The enough-is-enough moment, said Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn, was probably when metal thieves stole air conditioning equipment from Roswell Street Baptist Church and it was so hot services had to be canceled.
That’s about when Flynn and 25 law enforcement agencies in metro Atlanta decided to form the Copperhead Strike Force to battle metal theft. It's a crime that has risen “exponentially” in metro Atlanta during the past few years, Flynn said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Marietta Police Department.
Flynn described the metal theft as an epidemic with thieves stealing everything from manhole covers to traffic stop signs to brass plates on graves to catalytic converters on automobiles. “In law enforcement we are fed up with it,” said Flynn.
The group said it plans to go after the thieves and the business who buy the stolen metal, though they did not identify the businesses during the press conference. Acworth Police Department detective Joel Hall said afterward the dealers are, for the most part, not reputable scrap metal dealers or recyclers, and they are difficult to catch because they usually ship the stolen metal within hours of buying it.
Flynn said after the conference it’s hard to put a dollar figure on the metal theft. The frequency of the crime is easier to peg. “We have dozens of thefts in the metro area every day,” he said. “It could be in the hundreds.” People can call the tip number 404-577-8477, or send a text or email with information through this web site: http://www.crimestoppersatlanta.org/index. Tipsters are kept anonymous.
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