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Scavengers harvest for scrap metal, such as plumbing fixtures, pipes, and electrical cables, from derelict buildings, among other places.

January 2012

Southside a Center for Metal Harvesting

Bill Slatkin

The trail of thefts of metal from electricity facilities, construction sites, and even home exteriors leads to San Francisco’s Southside neighborhoods, where scrap metals – particularly copper – are exchanged for cash in a black market that’s thriving despite police efforts to put it out of business.  “They collect a lot of money when they sell the stuff, and it can add up to thousands of dollars of losses for the victims,” explained San Francisco police officer Sue Lavin, who is frequently called to investigate the crimes.

According to Lavin, cables mined from underground power vaults, as well as plumbing fixtures and pipes ripped out of buildings, some of which are occupied, “show up at one of the four metal recycling places” located in Bayview and Dogpatch.  Sims Metal Management at Pier 70, was forced to close last fall, and will remain out of business indefinitely, as a result of illegal metal purchases.  J&S Recycling, located on Third Street near Islais Creek, has repeatedly been caught in San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) stings, but remains open while it contests charges that it violated state law governing metal purchases.

According to Lavin, a recycling companies’ license can be suspended or revoked if the enterprise purchases metal without following specific procedures meant to verify that the seller is the material’s legal owner.  Among the requirements is that the recycler wait three days between receiving scrap metal and paying for it, with the buyer provided a receipt in the interim.  “That’s supposed to give the police time to check out whether the stuff is stolen. But there are a lot of back door exchanges. If someone is violating the law, they phony up the books to make it look like they’re doing what they’re supposed to,” said Lavin.

Most of this criminal activity by sellers – “metal monsters” – and recyclers remains hidden among the noise, smell, and chaos of the recycling facilities where the transactions take place.  But some high profile instances have been covered by the media; including the theft of a two-and-a-half ton brass bell from the grounds of St. Mary’s Cathedral, and when the plaque honoring Harvey Milk disappeared from a Castro Street sidewalk.   “These guys are pretty good at it. They have sophisticated equipment to haul it and to cut it up,” said Lavin, who guessed that St Mary’s bell – had it not been discovered in Oakland a few days after it vanished – was destined to be “chopped into pieces and sold as scrap.” A large scrap yard is located just across the street from where the bell was found.

Last summer Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) – a frequent metal monster victim – announced a $15,000 reward to anyone reporting the theft of copper wire taken from underground vaults, if the information resulted in an arrest and prosecution. During the first half of last year PG&E experienced 35 metal thefts, which typically involved criminals who struck in the middle of the night, removed manhole covers to gain access, and disabled power to surrounding buildings to remove their booty. The crime has resulted in disrupted electrical service – triggering the need to use emergency generators – in several Financial District and South of Market locations.  Mt. Zion Hospital’s Divisadero Street campus lost power as a result of a metals heist, forcing surgeries to be rescheduled.

Among the most notorious Southside incidents are two separate thefts of cables used to power traffic signals at the Islais Creek Bridge – which cost $50,000 to replace – and the disappearance of a bathtub and plumbing fixtures from a home being remodeled in Bayview. The homeowner visited all of the area’s metal recyclers until he located the missing pieces needed to complete his bathroom.

The crime’s persistence is partially a result of the difficulty revoking the licenses of recycling companies that knowingly buy stolen metal. “The companies say it is the responsibility of the police to find out who’s the legal owner of the metal, not theirs,” explained Lavin.  

Trayer Engineering, located at 23rd and Pennsylvania, has been hit so many times that the businesses’ owners, John and Patty Trayer, leave the facility’s gate open at night, rather than lock-up and then find holes cut in their fence when they arrive to work in the morning.  “It has cost us thousands of dollars in the losses and the cost of trying to protect ourselves,” said John. “Now that we have video surveillance we know every time someone is on the property. So do the police. But there has been just one arrest out of 30 or 40 incidents in the past few years. And that guy was turned into the cops by another one of the criminals who didn’t like it that someone else was poaching on his territory.”

While most of the crimes on Trayers’ property take place in minutes, with the perpetrator slipping under, or through, a hole in the fence before authorities arrive, the police have occasionally shown up in time to catch the perpetrator.  Generally, however, the police “figure it’s more important to catch people who are committing more serious crimes,” said John, who has been told that that even when a thief is arrested, “the DA is not going to prosecute.”

According to Lavin someone found on private property without authorization is threatened with arrest for trespassing unless he leaves immediately. “So they just say ‘okay’ and leave. If you can catch them with something they’re stealing you can make an arrest. But once they see the cops coming they ditch whatever they were going to take.”

Bayview District officers are accustomed to people caught with scrap metal defending themselves by stating that “I just found this” or “Some guy gave me these copper pipes because he doesn’t need them.” Unless the material is obviously stolen – with, for example, a PG&E or Department of Public Works stamp on it – there’s little hope of proving the suspect came by it illegally.

Trayer Engineering has been in Dogpatch for more than more than 30 years, and employs 50 people.  “San Francisco really doesn’t care about businesses. That’s crazy. The City needs businesses to be here.”  Ironically, metal recyclers also tend to emphasize the importance of nurturing small businesses in the City when they fight attempts to close them down for illegal practices.

Enforcement difficulties and high values – copper currently fetches $4 a pound; brass brings $2 – suggest that metal theft is likely to continue.  Lavin cited a state law that took effect this year making illegal possession of scrap metal a felony rather than a misdemeanor, even if its value is under the $1,000 threshold that determines the theft’s consequences.  “That should have some impact on the problem,” said Lavin. “When we do catch someone with some metal that doesn’t belong to them, they won’t be cited and released. They’ll get taken to jail.”

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