"Silicon Valley leaders are filling utility boxes with sand, running undercover stings and devoting entire municipal teams to repairing copper wire as rising thefts wreak street light outages and thousands of dollars in property damage. Those were the insights of a Nov. 12 panel hosted by San José Spotlight, which heard from broadband, business, transportation and law enforcement experts on a problem plaguing street lights, traffic signals and VTA light rail stations. The infrastructure disruptions can mean service delays and less-visible neighborhoods."
"It warrants a special focus on San Jose's 65,000 streetlights and approximately 940 traffic signals, according to Rick Scott, assistant director of San Jose's Department of Transportation. He's been with the department for 13 years, but said June 2024 is when thefts began to skyrocket. "I'd see about 10 to 15 complaints per month about copper wire theft, and then all of a sudden it was about 100 to 150 per month," he said. "We just got overwhelmed as a city.""
San Jose experienced a surge in copper wire thefts beginning June 2024, increasing monthly complaints from roughly 10–15 to about 100–150. The city logged roughly 2,200 incidents and completed repairs on about 1,500, leaving a backlog near 700 outages that dim street lights and impair traffic signals and light rail stations. The outages reduce neighborhood visibility and public safety and cause costly property damage. Responses include filling utility boxes with sand and concrete, undercover stings, and dedicating municipal repair teams. Enforcement efforts target organized buyers reselling copper at higher rates.
Read at San Jose Spotlight
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