On Monday I attended a meeting of the Metal Theft Working
Group run by the Association of Chief Police Officers. Although the final
figures for metal stolen during 2013-14 will not be available until the Home
Office publishes its crime statistics later in the year, all regions of England
and Wales reported further reductions (building on those achieved in 2012-13)
in recent months. Typically theft levels are down to around 25-30% of the levels
they were at and even this figure is made up by recent growth in the theft of
catalytic converters from motor vehicles. Interestingly in the two hour
discussion there was hardly any mention of theft of metal sheet, including
lead, from buildings.
The full implementation of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act
towards the end of 2013 has clearly had a major impact. More than 6,000 dealers
are now registered under the Act. The police and local authorities are building
up an intelligence-led picture to allow them to target those most likely to be
involved in dodgy dealings and take action against unregistered sites. Around
60 sites have already been closed or under an investigation that may result in
them being shut down. Although some of the fines imposed on dealers have been
modest in other cases penalties of as much as £6000 have been imposed.
Mobile collectors remain an area of concern with one police
region reporting that it had stopped over 1,500 vans over the last three months
and found around one-third either carrying stolen material or infringing
vehicle regulations. Considerable effort is also being put into Operation
Baltic, a joint initiative to check that stolen metal is not being exported in
containers. Early indications are that this is a less likely route out of UK
for stolen metal than had been expected.
The message seems to be clear. Sensible precautions still
need to be taken to protect lead sheet from theft but its vulnerability has
reduced very substantially in the last few years. Those wanting to specify lead
sheet should now be able to tell clients, and insurers, that the risks of it
being stolen are now very low.
Richard Diment,
LSA Exective Manager
Richard Diment,
LSA Exective Manager
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ReplyDeleteExcellent piece Richard and I agree that perceptions can very often skew the actual risks being faced. The fear of becoming a victim of crime will often cloud individual feelings, when in reality the risks that are being faced are indeed small. I also think, particularly with lead theft, that perceptions will lag behind the actual risks considerably.
DeleteThe high impact of the crime on ecclesiastical and heritage buildings and the knock on effect of loss of amenity in a sector not noted for speedy decision making will take some time for the good news of recent success to filter through.
The new legislation is no doubt having a positive impact on the market for stolen metals, and there is no doubt that the changes, including the cash ban, were long overdue. The focus on licensing of sites, and checks on the antecedents of those selling metals, including improvements on record keeping will help in legitimising what is recognised as a difficult industry. You rightly point out difficulties with Mobile Collectors, including police finding stolen material in vans.
Whilst there is focus on individuals, I would suggest that insufficient focus is placed on checking the provenance of the metals being dealt. There are no doubt logistical difficulties here, notwithstanding that there is a requirement within the new legislation for dealers to check the material they are buying for identifying marks.
An age old problem for the police is recovering suspected stolen metal and having no way of tracing its source. There is a recognised intelligence gap which relates to the routes that stolen metals take, from scene of the crime to its entry back into the ‘legitimate’ market. Disposal routes remain a problem for companies and SMD’s themselves will tell you that they are also frequent victims of metal theft.
Whilst improvements have no doubt been made, and this will be reflected in lower crime statistics, there are still positive steps that can be taken to reduce the risks even further, particularly in relation to lead theft.
Kind regards,
John Minary.
MD Trace-in-Metal Ltd