Sheriff Gets Proactive in Metal Theft Investigations

All over the Sacramento area–including –metal is being stripped from schools, , and . Now Sacramento County Sheriff's Department is going to get out in front of this crime trend to curtail it in a way that hasn't yet been tried.

Traditional police work can be described as reacting to a situation when it occurs. This time out Sac Sheriff's Detective Todd Roe, with the assistance of the community crime prevention unit, intends on taking a more proactive approach in truncating the latest en vogue crime trend.

"My job right now is to handle the cases that come in and work the traditional police way, which is reacting to something," Roe said. "Another part of what I'm going to be trying to do is being proactive.'

A part of being proactive, Roe explained, will include working with area recyclers, educating them and helping them pay attention to what is going on.

That strategy "getting (recyclers) to feel comfortable with saying 'no,'" Roe said, will be just as important as apprehending the suspects with stolen metals.

"They're reasonable people," Roe said. "When you're in that business, if you don't want your business to come under criminal prosecution, you want to take the right steps."

Roe explained the new strategy is part of the department's program to encourage recycle centers to upload records of their purchases daily to sheriff's officials.

The heightened attention to the crimes come on the heels of the 2009 law to slow the pace of metal theft, and as Sac Sheriff Sgt. Chris Joachim pointed out, could serve as a reminder this isn't the first time Sacramento has been faced with similar crime trending.

"I recognize the public and the media think the simple issue is if we get rid of recyclers then we won't have this problem. It's not that simple," Joachim said. "I still think even if we shut down every recycler in the county, we'd still have metal theft."

It's not the first time Joachim's division has had to deal with an increase in metal theft and it's not likely to be the last.

"It's a problem for everyone, it really is," Roe said.

Joachim, Roe and the rest of the division will be working with a number of law enforcement agencies across the Sacramento area, including the District Attorney's Office in an effort to develop probationary periods for both offending buyers and sellers of stolen metals. Joachim will also work closely with the county, developing new ordinances and ensuring existing ones properly address the potential liabilities that exist between both the buyer and the seller.

"I have a meeting with some of the staff of a state senator to work with the legislature to ensure there are appropriate laws," Joachim said. "We'll be working with the D.A. to get probationary conditions placed on known and convicted metal thieves so they cannot possess recyclables."

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