City and Recyclers try to Strike a Balance on Metal Theft Law

City and Recyclers try to Strike a Balance on Metal Theft Law
By Scott Braddock

The Dallas city council could vote Wednesday on a plan to further crack down on metal thieves while trying to keep metal recycling businesses viable. 

City staffers had originally suggested, among other things, banning cash transactions between those who sell the metal and those who buy it.  Metal recyclers balked at that, saying it would hurt their bottom line and hinder people who are legitimately trying to recycle small amounts of metal. 

Now the city manager's office is recommending that sellers who want to be paid in cash would have to have an account with the buyer and they'd have to apply for a "cash transaction card."  The card would need to be presented each time that person sells metal and gets cash for it.  The council could also require that sellers be paid with a mailed check.

The problem of brazen metal thieves stealing air conditioners, piping, or anything else containing valuable copper and other metals is growing in Dallas and all over Texas.  Some on the city council, including Dave Neumann, have said the legislature should enact a state law to deal with the problem.  "This is a problem for Dallas but it's also a problem outside Dallas," Neumann has said.  

Some have suggested the rise in metal thefts is directly related to increased advertising by scrap metal yards that say people can "Turn their scrap into cash!"
"It's easy to blame the industry," said Arnie Gachman, who owns three scrap metal yards and speaks for the metal recycling industry.  "This is a challenge for everyone in the city," he said. 

Gachman said there are many people who legitimately deal in small amounts of metal, with some sales as low as $2.  "We don't want to take that away from them, because that helps the city to get small pieces of metal off the street that would otherwise just go to a landfill," Gachman said.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert has urged at least a regional solution, because he and others feel that if Dallas makes it harder for metal thieves to operate, they'll simply take their ill gotten goods to neighboring cities.