New Crime Warnings

With the evolution of society comes the evolution of crime. Items that were overlooked, discarded, scrap, or trash have increased in value so much that these items have become hot commodities for thieves. What you are throwing away could very well be valuable enough for someone to steal.

Copper

Due to global demand in electronics manufacturing and construction, copper prices continue to defy the laws of gravity and are selling at record high prices. Collection and recycling centers are paying increasingly higher prices per pound for copper, and this has incentivized a new breed of crooks to prowl for the precious metal.

Copper theft happens under the cover of darkness, and in broad daylight. Thieves are taking copper from cell phone towers, baseball field lights, and stealing huge spools of copper wire from utility company grounds. Security guards are posted at many construction sites, due to the propensity for some robbers to illegally abscond with copper wire from commercial and home building sites. There have even been reports of individuals returning home from a day at work, only to discover that a mysterious lack of water pressure was due to missing copper pipes that were cut out and removed from the crawl spaces beneath their homes.

Industrious robbers have been so bold as to take massive sculptures from public parks under the cover of darkness, and desperate enough to steal the copper plaques from gravestones. In spite of the bold maneuvers of these thieves, it can be a challenge for law enforcement in some areas to adjust to the new wave of criminals. Proving the illicit activity of a copper robber can be a tricky task for a cop. Some bungling thieves have short-circuited the legal system and suffered immediate consequences by electrocuting themselves in the process of attempting to steal live copper wires.

Beer Kegs

For years, the biggest concern for beer kegs was monitoring the drinking age of the consumer. That was until the word got out that the stainless steel kegs are valuable empty, as well as full. Thieves are taking the empty kegs from alleyways behind bars and breweries, or looting the empty kegs from under the unsuspecting noses of inebriated collegiate revelers. The price paid for stainless steel scrap has more than doubled in the last five years, and with demand rising for the metal, it is expected that this trend will continue.

Catalytic Converters

When was the last time that you went shopping for jewelry and noticed the comparative price for platinum? When an album goes platinum, it is cause for celebration. However, when the catalytic converter is stolen from your car in the middle of the night, it is cause for alarm. Catalytic converters contain between three to seven grams of the precious metal that trades at over US $1,471.50 per ounce. As awareness has increased of this rolling goldmine of platinum, so has the rate of theft.

Reports of stolen catalytic converters has gradually reached epidemic proportions, but has managed to avoid making front page headlines. Perhaps the lack of public awareness is due to the fact that many of the defenseless victims had the catalytic converters stolen from their cars while parked at the same party at which the kegs were stolen? This could explain the difficulty in obtaining consistent descriptions of the criminals and the scene of the crime. Some people might suspect that there would be some method for identifying and capturing a suspect that has a pick-up truck loaded with empty kegs, catalytic converters, large copper statues and gravestone plaques. Then again, this does sound like a typical night on campus.

Manhole Covers

This is not an urban myth. Manhole covers have become such a coveted item for trade-in value that many streets have become littered with unsafe gaping holes. According to the New York Times description of the situation in Philadelphia, "thieves have so thoroughly stripped the neighborhoods on the city's north and southwest sides that some blocks look like slalom courses, dotted with orange cones to warn drivers and pedestrians of gaping holes, some nearly 30 feet deep." The New York Times reports, "More than 2,500 covers and grates have disappeared in the past year, up from an annual average of about 100."

For the citizens of Philadelphia, the theft of manhole covers is no laughing matter. The criminals are not deterred by the changing of the seasons. A slalom course of roads pitted with thirty foot holes is dangerous enough in daylight, but how much worse will this situation become with snow and ice? It is not only dangerous for the unsuspecting driver, but also for every other vehicle that may be beside or behind the unfortunate family that is first into the scene of the crime.

Restaurant Grease

Processed fryer oil is called yellow grease, and is traded on the commodities market. It is a form of biodiesel fuel that can be used in some cars and trucks. As the prices of gas and ethanol have risen dramatically, so has the value of yellow grease. From 2000 to 2008, the price of processed fryer oil increased on the commodities trading market from 7 cents per pound to 33 cents per pound, which is nearly US $2.50 a gallon.

Yes, it's true. That grease that is used to cook your French Fries is also a lower cost alternative to the stuff that you are probably pumping into the tank of your automobile. As oil prices continue to increase relentlessly, so does the price of yellow grease, and the gas that fills your tank.

A New Economic Engine

With so much attention on sustainability, environmental protection, electronic waste, and compliance, society has made tremendous strides to protect mother earth. In the process of reusing precious metals to alleviate the depletion of natural resources, and avoid dumping toxic waste into landfills and water supplies, we have created a rapid new marketplace for those items that were formerly regarding as scrap, waste, or trash. That is the good news, that your trash really is someone else's treasure. The bad news is that some unsavory individuals want to take that treasure with inappropriate means. It is a situation that will continue to escalate and aggravate society until proper controls are created to monitor and manage the buying, selling, and trading of metals, materials, and even grease.

The proper response to this situation is not to create costly and unenforceable regulations, but rather to embrace this new economic engine with appropriate guidelines and traceable transactions. There are millions of dollars exchanged in the processing of electronic waste, scrap, and metals. There is an enormous river of currency that flows like an aqueduct under the foundations of society, with almost no notice except for the thirty foot holes that open in front of our very eyes. The days of treating reusable materials as inconsequential garbage have passed and are buried in an unmarked grave, because someone stole the copper plaque. There is a new resource in renewable materials, and an evolving marketplace that demands our attention. In the process of being environmentally conscious, we have created a new source for sustainable green dollars in the economy. As the price for new resources continues to grow, so does the demand for the old.

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Words of Wisdom

"You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success - or are they holding you back?"- Clement Stone

"Engineering is the professional and systematic application of science to the efficient utilization of natural resources to produce wealth."- T. J. Hoover and J. C. L. Fish - 1941

"Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of natural resources to the benefit of man."- Ralph J. Smith

"The engineer is the key figure in the material progress of the world. It is his engineering that makes a reality of the potential value of science by translating scientific knowledge into tools, resources, energy and labor to bring them into the service of man ... To make contributions of this kind the engineer requires the imagination to visualize the needs of society and to appreciate what is possible as well as the technological and broad social age understanding to bring his vision to reality."- Sir Eric Ashby

"Engineers participate in the activities which make the resources of nature available in a form beneficial to man and provide systems which will perform optimally and economically."- L. M. K. Boelter - 1957

"Engineering is the professional and systematic application of activities for translating scientific knowledge to achieve optimum conversion of natural resources for the benefit of man, wealth, society, and economy. Engineers are incredibly effective at reusing knowledge, but are not very creative at redefining themselves."- Ralph Abramo - 2008

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The Trusted Advocate: Accelerate Success with Authenticity and Integrity is available now online in hardcover and paperback from www.Amazon.com (Hardcover), www.Amazon.com (Paperback), www.BarnessndNoble,com, www.Borders.com, www.Target.com, www.Buy.com, ,www.iUniverse.com, and many other fine booksellers.

About the Author:
John Mehrmann is author of The Trusted Advocate: Accelerate Success with Authenticity and Integrity, the fundamental guide to achieve extraordinary sales and sustain loyal customers. John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, and educational articles. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.