Copper wire thefts are leaving neighborhoods in the dark. Here's what LAPD is doing to stop it

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Many California streets have been left in the dark lately by copper thieves vandalizing street lights.

Officials say heavy metal thefts have been on the rise, leaving neighborhoods in the dark.

ABC7 is looking into what's being done to combat the crime, and what happens to all the stolen metal.

"It's a problem all over the United States," LAPD Lt. Andrew Mathes said. "The transportation of stolen metals is a pretty big industry."

Mathes is the head of LAPD's Heavy Metals Task Unit, which is investigating stolen copper and other metals all across the city.

Eyewitness News previously reported on several streets in Silver Lake without working streetlights. Residents reached out to ABC7 for help.

Residents in Silver Lake say copper thieves have been vandalizing street lights and leaving them in the dark.

Some people are also losing landline service because thieves are stealing telephone wires.

Surveillance video from the Sierra Pacific Electrial Corporation shows thieves taking huge reels of copper lines. Experts say the copper sells for about $4.60 a pound.

READ MORE: More South Los Angeles residents say they need life-saving landline phone service restored

After our recent report about a 95-year-old woman who lost the landline service she relies on, more than a dozen people contacted ABC7, saying they're in the same boat.

"The telecom wire, it's the cost of replacement, the actual labor that goes into replacement, far exceeds the cost of the actual wire," Mathes said.

The task force says there are ways to stop the theft - some of the wires can be traced.

"Telecom wire, which is probably the issue we're talking about here, it has some specific white markings on it," Mathes said. "There's ways that we can ascertain who it belongs to and things like that for purposes of identifying victims on this."

In about a year, the task force conducted dozens of operations and arrested more than 250 people. In August, it recovered thousands of pounds of wire at a makeshift operation.

"An alley that was a metal theft processing factory, basically. Someone had taken over a public alleyway and was actively involved in stripping and processing wire," Mathes said.

The LAPD says the end of the line is the scrapyard, and there are dozens of scrapyards in Southern California. To make sure they don't buy stolen metals, LAPD sends out investigators and inspects the yards. They say they are also trying to work with them as partners.

"We determine if there's any stolen property or any stolen wires that we can go ahead and do and tie to a crime," Mathes said. "Then we work with some of the scrap yards on a regular basis to make sure that they know that if they're taking in any stolen wire, how we can better identify who took it and work those cases backwards."

There are also requirements to show identification when someone sells metals. The task force says with this new enforcement, some of the scrapyards now call detectives when they see something suspicious.

SEE ALSO: 7 On Your Side helps 95-year-old woman get her phone service restored after 2 months without it

The 95-year-old went without phone service for two months. AT&T said it was going to take a while after copper wires were stolen, but after a call from 7 On Your Side, service was restored in two days.