Font ResizeSANTA FE - Junkies desperate for a fix will steal sewer covers right off the street.
Bronze plaques, copper wiring and catalytic converters from automobiles are other targets for thieves, who typically resell the metals to buy drugs.
"We're seeing more of it," said Rick Tedrow, the district attorney of San Juan County.
State Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec, says a solution is to mandate licenses for secondhand metal dealers. This would give the state power to inspect their sales logs and better oversee their business practices, he said.
Neville's bill this week cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in a split vote. Senators who opposed the bill said they had philosophical objections to the state requiring licenses of yet another industry.
Neville said in an interview that he understood their reluctance, and he even shared some of it. But, he said, with stricter regulation of scrap dealers, drug users would not have a ready market for the metals they steal from homes, businesses, farms and oil fields.
"In this particular situation, we need more oversight," Neville said.
But Mickey Roberts, owner of M R Salvage in Farmington, said the state already regulates him and every other secondhand metal dealer through its Used Merchandise Act.
Roberts said sheriff's deputies even arrested him because he was not requiring photo identification from people who sold him metals. Prosecutors did not pursue the case because he, along with others in the scrap business, agreed
"If we get too much more regulation, I'll just shut the doors," Roberts said in a telephone interview.
Fabian Smith, office manager of Do-a Ana Iron and Metal in Las Cruces, said his company does not require photo identification of clients. But, he said, it is vigilant about gathering information from a potential seller if what he is offering could be stolen.
"If something is too new or too obvious, we'll take down a license plate number so we can track it," he said.
Eddy County Sheriff Ernie Mendoza likes Neville's bill.
"It's a way to stop people from getting quick money for a quick fix," he said.
Tedrow, the prosecutor, said the bill would encourage the industry to better regulate itself by shunning thieves.
Under Neville's bill, a secondhand metals dealer would pay $100 for a three-year license. Those without a license could face a misdemeanor charge.
In Roberts' view, the proposed law is redundant and should be killed by legislators. The Used Merchandise Act already regulates scrap metal dealers, as his arrest for failing to obtain clients' photo IDs demonstrated, he said.
He said the problem of black-market metals, such as manhole covers, was not so severe as Neville claims.
Detective Cpl. Russ Bradford of the Farmington police said a rash of those thefts occurred in his city more than two years ago. Crews had to weld manhole covers to streets to stop thieves from leaving gaping holes for unsuspecting motorists, he said.
The problem of metal thefts is national in scope.
Missouri legislators in 2008 approved a law even stricter than the one Neville is proposing. It tightened recordkeeping and prohibited metal dealers from buying items such as manhole covers, traffic signal boxes and street signs.
Neville's proposal in SB 325.
He also has a companion measure that would make it a felony to vandalize, destroy or steal property from a power plant, oil rig or other energy production site. That proposal is SB 240.
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/newmexico.
