"social malaise lingering since the pandemic and soaring demand for metals, especially for copper, has brought this street crime to new levels." It's interesti

"social malaise lingering since the pandemic and soaring demand for metals, especially for copper, has brought this street crime to new levels." It's interesting that absolutely no mention of changes to policing / prosecution. Across Los Angeles County, more than 290 fire hydrants have gone missing since January. In my town we are having electric outages because of this (they call it "vandalism") "Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez joined Hernandez in opposing the motions, even though he had initially supported the idea. He asked his colleagues to understand that the thefts might be committed by people living in poverty who are pushed into acts of desperation." A note that the costs to report, schedule, supply, staff and roll a govt truck to do a fire hydrant or street light are not cheap. The poor person will get some money from wiring, but the city will be spending 10x - 100x that to get the infrastructure fixed up - so not sure allowing theft as a result of the pandemic or poverty is the most efficient way to address poverty? Insulated coper wire is about $1.50 per pound to recycle at a metal buyer.