By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
A few poles and frames were all they left after heartless scrap metal thieves stripped the West Midlands playground – including swings, monkey bars and slides – almost completely. They struck the Halesowen nature reserve recently overnight probably using metal disk cutters. A symptom of booming scrap metal theft across the UK.
Just about most metals are now considered fair game – lead, iron, steel and metals from car catalytic converters. Old air conditioning units. Even manhole covers. In some parts of London, even tube signal cables have been stolen, and even empty homes, even temporarily empty ones, are broken into and stripped of copper and other metals.
It's not just the theft that's a worry; it's also the mess, disruption and replacement costs it leaves, often leading to higher insurance premiums.
Hopefully the thieves can be caught in this case easily. It is not that hard to spot someone trying to offload a children's slide or swings and scrap merchants should be on look out for these thieves. If the thieves do manage to offload the metal nevertheless then the merchants too should be locked up.
Farms, churches, cemeteries and hospitals and schools are all high risk targets – but children's playgrounds are a new low. But it's also a question of police resources. For example, a local Wiltshire Police squad dedicated to dealing with metal theft was recently disbanded following budget pressure.
The problem is, though, and we must, unfortunately face those facts, that with the way times are at present and the price of metals, even the most base, fetching serious money, criminals will go after that stuff.
But, I am sure that a good example made, say, of those thieves in the West Midlands, by sending them down for a couple of years, even if it is their first time, should get the message heard loud and clear.
© 2011
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