As the economy continues to fall deeper into a recession copper theft is on the rise. Some studies report an over 57% increase in the past year alone.
Copper theft leaves air conditioning units completely destroyed, requiring home and business owners to replace expensive equipment for a fraction of the cost worth of copper. The average homeowner loss is $5,000-$6,000. For commercial spaces with much larger square footage the cost is often substantially higher and can cost up $30,000 or more!
Saving money is important to everyone in today's economy. Why risk losing your hard-earned money to random copper theft? Protect your investment with our rugged and affordable A/C cages.
Source:AC Guard
Vacant Investment Protection
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Atlanta police forms copper theft task force
Atlanta police forms copper theft task force www.privateofficer.com « PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS NETWORK http://t.co/6egfo4w
Atlanta police forms copper theft task force www.privateofficer.com
Posted by privateofficernews on January 2, 2011
Atlanta GA Jan 2 2011 Shortly before Thanksgiving, when copper thieves using a deer stand cut down 11 big sections of AT&T’s overhead phone lines in Fairburn, they took that copper somewhere to sell.
And somebody somewhere had to buy it — which is why area police, copper-heavy utilities such as AT&T or Georgia Power and the region’s metal recyclers get together once a month.
The group is trying to calm what has become a white-hot stolen copper market.
“It’s supply and demand,” said Atlanta Police Lt. Mike Giugliano, who oversees the effort. Demand from China is “driving the price of copper now. So the recyclers are hungry for copper and the price keeps going up.”
Recyclers play a key role in the copper supply chain — and are one way stolen copper gets to market.
Atlanta police combine “very good relationships with the recycling industry” with the occasional “integrity check” — also known as a sting.
Controlling copper theft isn’t easy, Giugliano said.
Linking a piece of copper to a theft victim is often impossible. And it’s often stolen from locations that aren’t regularly occupied, such as empty houses, a church or — in the city of Atlanta — temporarily closed park buildings. That means no one reports the theft for days or weeks, giving thieves ample time to sell.
Recyclers are supposed to avoid buying stolen copper. But those in the industry say it’s not always easy to distinguish it from the legitimately-obtained copper that plumbers, electricians and demolition companies sell.
Bruce Berman, a manager with Metro Alloys in East Point, said legitimate recyclers “are very proactive. We photograph all of the material we get, the vehicle it comes in and the sellers.”
“But it can come in so co-mingled that it’s hard to sort out,” he said.
Wiring with insulation burned off is one clue. Utilities put identification on the insulation. Or, “if a homeless guy comes up with a Herby Curby full of air conditioner coils, that’s a clue,” said Giugliano.
Law enforcement and industry won a new law two years ago requiring some changes in requirements for recyclers. They now can’t pay cash for certain kinds of copper and are required to get the seller’s ID.
An Atlanta police sting shortly afterward found a number of recyclers not following those rules. “We did integrity tests, got a bunch of officers to go in without ID and asking for cash,” said Giugliano.
“We made quite a few arrests in that, but most of the prosecutors weren’t familiar with the law so they got community service and a fine. But it got recyclers looking over their shoulder and inclined to do the right thing.”
Task force members are looking at new legislation this year. Police would like to ban purchases of copper wiring with the identifying insulation burned off, for instance.
Ultimately, he said, they’d like to see metal recyclers regulated like pawn shops, with recyclers keeping their records electronically and giving police access. That would allow police to link thefts to sales without going to every recycling company in person. The industry resists that because of competitive fears.
Maria Strollo lobbies for metal companies and says there are better ways to limit copper theft. Requiring identification on copper and stepping up prosecution would both help, she said.
But even the strictest controls on Georgia copper buyers won’t dry up the market.
“It’s a global market,” said Strollo. “They can just put it in a container and ship it straight to China.”
Source:AJC
Atlanta police forms copper theft task force www.privateofficer.com
Posted by privateofficernews on January 2, 2011
Atlanta GA Jan 2 2011 Shortly before Thanksgiving, when copper thieves using a deer stand cut down 11 big sections of AT&T’s overhead phone lines in Fairburn, they took that copper somewhere to sell.
And somebody somewhere had to buy it — which is why area police, copper-heavy utilities such as AT&T or Georgia Power and the region’s metal recyclers get together once a month.
The group is trying to calm what has become a white-hot stolen copper market.
“It’s supply and demand,” said Atlanta Police Lt. Mike Giugliano, who oversees the effort. Demand from China is “driving the price of copper now. So the recyclers are hungry for copper and the price keeps going up.”
Recyclers play a key role in the copper supply chain — and are one way stolen copper gets to market.
Atlanta police combine “very good relationships with the recycling industry” with the occasional “integrity check” — also known as a sting.
Controlling copper theft isn’t easy, Giugliano said.
Linking a piece of copper to a theft victim is often impossible. And it’s often stolen from locations that aren’t regularly occupied, such as empty houses, a church or — in the city of Atlanta — temporarily closed park buildings. That means no one reports the theft for days or weeks, giving thieves ample time to sell.
Recyclers are supposed to avoid buying stolen copper. But those in the industry say it’s not always easy to distinguish it from the legitimately-obtained copper that plumbers, electricians and demolition companies sell.
Bruce Berman, a manager with Metro Alloys in East Point, said legitimate recyclers “are very proactive. We photograph all of the material we get, the vehicle it comes in and the sellers.”
“But it can come in so co-mingled that it’s hard to sort out,” he said.
Wiring with insulation burned off is one clue. Utilities put identification on the insulation. Or, “if a homeless guy comes up with a Herby Curby full of air conditioner coils, that’s a clue,” said Giugliano.
Law enforcement and industry won a new law two years ago requiring some changes in requirements for recyclers. They now can’t pay cash for certain kinds of copper and are required to get the seller’s ID.
An Atlanta police sting shortly afterward found a number of recyclers not following those rules. “We did integrity tests, got a bunch of officers to go in without ID and asking for cash,” said Giugliano.
“We made quite a few arrests in that, but most of the prosecutors weren’t familiar with the law so they got community service and a fine. But it got recyclers looking over their shoulder and inclined to do the right thing.”
Task force members are looking at new legislation this year. Police would like to ban purchases of copper wiring with the identifying insulation burned off, for instance.
Ultimately, he said, they’d like to see metal recyclers regulated like pawn shops, with recyclers keeping their records electronically and giving police access. That would allow police to link thefts to sales without going to every recycling company in person. The industry resists that because of competitive fears.
Maria Strollo lobbies for metal companies and says there are better ways to limit copper theft. Requiring identification on copper and stepping up prosecution would both help, she said.
But even the strictest controls on Georgia copper buyers won’t dry up the market.
“It’s a global market,” said Strollo. “They can just put it in a container and ship it straight to China.”
Source:AJC
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Atlanta Police Patrol Vacant Homes Hit By Mortgage Crisis
By TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/20/08
Atlanta police Officer Brian Ernest didn't need to step inside the doorway.
He could have guessed what was waiting for him.
Rich Addicks/AJC/
Atlanta police officers Brian Ernest and Bernett Collins, with guns drawn, prepare to enter a vacant house in The Bluff neighborhood just west of the Georgia Dome. The pair have been assigned to watching over the large number of vacant homes that attract copper thieves in APD's Zone 1.
Rich Addicks/AJC/
Atlanta police officer Brian Ernest cq exits a vacant house in The Bluff neighborhood just west of the Georgia Dome.
• Photos: Police patrol homes
This is Ernest's special assignment — identifying and keeping watch over vacant homes — so he steps past the door that someone has kicked in, pieces of its splintered frame dangling like mistletoe.
Inside, a burglar has smashed holes in bathroom walls and pulled out the sinks to harvest copper pipes.
This is just the beginning, Ernest said. The burglars will be back, and they'll keep coming back, picking apart the house like vultures. They're known to pilfer appliances, cabinets, carpet and use homes for drug deals, prostitution or squatting.
It's a crime wave made possible by the nation's mortgage crisis and absentee property owners in metro Atlanta and beyond. Atlanta code enforcement officials say empty homes are their greatest headache, and have assembled a special enforcement unit to deal with it.
Many of the vacant homes are foreclosures, purchased during the housing boom and seized by mortgage lenders after the market bottomed out. But there are also homes whose owners can't find renters, and new homes that developers can't unload.
The problem appears to be most severe in the city of Atlanta, though Stone Mountain, College Park and Riverdale are getting bad, too, according to some in the real-estate industry. Officials in the two counties that trail Fulton County in foreclosure rates — DeKalb and Gwinnett — say that vacant homes are not a big issue there.
Atlanta's numbers, however, have grown dramatically over the past five years and are still on the rise, city officials say. The city has boarded up nearly as many homes in the first half of this year as in all of 2007.
"This is a phenomenon that is occurring all over the city, the state and the country," said Atlanta police Maj. Joseph Dallas, who runs the police zone in northwest Atlanta that has the highest number of vacant homes. "We had to do something about it."
The department put officers like Ernest on special assignment and also assembled a task force to fight the dominant crime that drives vacant home break-ins: copper theft. The value of copper has reached new highs in recent years, driving up the price scrap metal recyclers are paying.
Some impoverished neighborhoods in Atlanta have become overrun with plywood-covered windows and "No Trespassing" signs, such as Vine City and Mechanicsville. But there's one already infamous Atlanta community that has more than the rest: The Bluff.
Along English Avenue, The Bluff already has a hard-earned reputation as a place where drugs and crime are plentiful. Now it has rows and rows of deserted homes.
"This whole block is almost vacant," Ernest said, rolling through The Bluff during a recent shift. "Everywhere you look, there's vacant properties."
Crime at vacant homes in The Bluff and elsewhere has gotten so bad, Ernest said, that some property owners pay homeless men to look after their homes, sometimes giving them a key and letting them stay inside.
Quinon Miller's defense is checking on his home regularly.
Miller, 29, and his wife bought a fixer-upper on Melrose Drive in southwest Atlanta in December 2006, lured by ever-rising property values.
They saw it as a long-term investment, buying it for around $90,000 — about $20,000 less than what other homes in the neighborhood were going for.
The Millers spent $75,000 and six months cleaning and refurbishing the home before hiring a property manager to find tenants. Potential renters, however, only wanted to pay about half of what the Millers needed to cover most of the mortgage. Quinon Miller refused to lower the rent, not wanting to attract bad renters that could lower the value of the property.
It's been a year and a half and the home is still empty, forcing Miller and his wife to cover two mortgages.
"It broke us — without a doubt," Miller said. "It sucked us dry."
Burglaries made it worse. They've had at least eight so far, he says. "Me and my wife will not ever, ever invest in real estate again," Miller said. "As far as we're concerned, we're done."
For police, there is no silver-bullet solution to wipe out crime at vacant homes. But there are ways to minimize it: identifying deserted homes as soon as possible, securing them properly and having owners and neighbors keep a close eye.
Atlanta's police and code compliance officers are working together better than in the past to help each other identify deserted homes, Dallas said.
The hard part is tracking down the owners. About half of them are banks or mortgage lenders; many others are absentee property owners — investors who bought properties to flip them and have since dropped out of sight.
The Bureau of Code Compliance issues citations and fines to owners whose homes are deemed "placarded" — unsightly, unsafe or in disrepair. Atlanta police have leverage, too. Once a home is placarded, officers can arrest anyone found on the property for trespassing.
They also have gone after scrap metal dealers who knowingly buy copper from thieves by forming a scrap metal task force. Ernest, also a member of the task force, says officers have recently taken down three recyclers operating illegally in northwest Atlanta.
Recently, though, the Bureau of Code Compliance has fallen on hard times, losing nearly one third of its officers — 11 — to city layoffs. The bureau's director, Tim Hardy, also was "relieved of his duties" last week for unrelated reasons, Hawkins said.
The remaining officers are left to tackle a problem created by owners who walk away from their properties and mortgage lenders who fail to pay for foreclosed homes to be boarded up properly.
Scott Bland, who runs a business that maintains vacant homes, is all too familiar with the latter. His company, Georgia Property Preservation, works for 10 different banks and currently watches over 4,000 empty homes in metro Atlanta.
Banks typically follow the minimum federal housing guidelines in boarding up homes, which Bland says do little to stop burglars. As a result, it's Bland who keeps returning to homes — sometimes as many as 10 times — to secure them after break-ins.
"They just keep paying," said Bland, adding that the secret to securing homes is using lesser-known bolts or screws that are difficult for burglars to remove. "It's almost like you're robbing the bank because they don't want to do it the right way the first time."
Bland, 39, of Acworth is one of the few who profit off the foreclosure crisis. A former electrician, he says his yearly gross income is $1.6 million. Bland predicts it will undoubtedly grow next year, when he predicts the number of vacant homes in metro Atlanta will double.
If he's right, Atlanta will be in trouble.
Dallas, the police major, is feeling more optimistic. He's hoping that the demolition this summer of two large public housing complexes in his area — Bowen Homes and Bankhead Courts — will help fill some of the vacant properties.
"They're going to need somewhere to stay," he said. "They're probably not going to move outside city limits. That would be the biggest help — to have those homes occupied."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/20/08
Atlanta police Officer Brian Ernest didn't need to step inside the doorway.
He could have guessed what was waiting for him.
Rich Addicks/AJC/
Atlanta police officers Brian Ernest and Bernett Collins, with guns drawn, prepare to enter a vacant house in The Bluff neighborhood just west of the Georgia Dome. The pair have been assigned to watching over the large number of vacant homes that attract copper thieves in APD's Zone 1.
Rich Addicks/AJC/
Atlanta police officer Brian Ernest cq exits a vacant house in The Bluff neighborhood just west of the Georgia Dome.
• Photos: Police patrol homes
This is Ernest's special assignment — identifying and keeping watch over vacant homes — so he steps past the door that someone has kicked in, pieces of its splintered frame dangling like mistletoe.
Inside, a burglar has smashed holes in bathroom walls and pulled out the sinks to harvest copper pipes.
This is just the beginning, Ernest said. The burglars will be back, and they'll keep coming back, picking apart the house like vultures. They're known to pilfer appliances, cabinets, carpet and use homes for drug deals, prostitution or squatting.
It's a crime wave made possible by the nation's mortgage crisis and absentee property owners in metro Atlanta and beyond. Atlanta code enforcement officials say empty homes are their greatest headache, and have assembled a special enforcement unit to deal with it.
Many of the vacant homes are foreclosures, purchased during the housing boom and seized by mortgage lenders after the market bottomed out. But there are also homes whose owners can't find renters, and new homes that developers can't unload.
The problem appears to be most severe in the city of Atlanta, though Stone Mountain, College Park and Riverdale are getting bad, too, according to some in the real-estate industry. Officials in the two counties that trail Fulton County in foreclosure rates — DeKalb and Gwinnett — say that vacant homes are not a big issue there.
Atlanta's numbers, however, have grown dramatically over the past five years and are still on the rise, city officials say. The city has boarded up nearly as many homes in the first half of this year as in all of 2007.
"This is a phenomenon that is occurring all over the city, the state and the country," said Atlanta police Maj. Joseph Dallas, who runs the police zone in northwest Atlanta that has the highest number of vacant homes. "We had to do something about it."
The department put officers like Ernest on special assignment and also assembled a task force to fight the dominant crime that drives vacant home break-ins: copper theft. The value of copper has reached new highs in recent years, driving up the price scrap metal recyclers are paying.
Some impoverished neighborhoods in Atlanta have become overrun with plywood-covered windows and "No Trespassing" signs, such as Vine City and Mechanicsville. But there's one already infamous Atlanta community that has more than the rest: The Bluff.
Along English Avenue, The Bluff already has a hard-earned reputation as a place where drugs and crime are plentiful. Now it has rows and rows of deserted homes.
"This whole block is almost vacant," Ernest said, rolling through The Bluff during a recent shift. "Everywhere you look, there's vacant properties."
Crime at vacant homes in The Bluff and elsewhere has gotten so bad, Ernest said, that some property owners pay homeless men to look after their homes, sometimes giving them a key and letting them stay inside.
Quinon Miller's defense is checking on his home regularly.
Miller, 29, and his wife bought a fixer-upper on Melrose Drive in southwest Atlanta in December 2006, lured by ever-rising property values.
They saw it as a long-term investment, buying it for around $90,000 — about $20,000 less than what other homes in the neighborhood were going for.
The Millers spent $75,000 and six months cleaning and refurbishing the home before hiring a property manager to find tenants. Potential renters, however, only wanted to pay about half of what the Millers needed to cover most of the mortgage. Quinon Miller refused to lower the rent, not wanting to attract bad renters that could lower the value of the property.
It's been a year and a half and the home is still empty, forcing Miller and his wife to cover two mortgages.
"It broke us — without a doubt," Miller said. "It sucked us dry."
Burglaries made it worse. They've had at least eight so far, he says. "Me and my wife will not ever, ever invest in real estate again," Miller said. "As far as we're concerned, we're done."
For police, there is no silver-bullet solution to wipe out crime at vacant homes. But there are ways to minimize it: identifying deserted homes as soon as possible, securing them properly and having owners and neighbors keep a close eye.
Atlanta's police and code compliance officers are working together better than in the past to help each other identify deserted homes, Dallas said.
The hard part is tracking down the owners. About half of them are banks or mortgage lenders; many others are absentee property owners — investors who bought properties to flip them and have since dropped out of sight.
The Bureau of Code Compliance issues citations and fines to owners whose homes are deemed "placarded" — unsightly, unsafe or in disrepair. Atlanta police have leverage, too. Once a home is placarded, officers can arrest anyone found on the property for trespassing.
They also have gone after scrap metal dealers who knowingly buy copper from thieves by forming a scrap metal task force. Ernest, also a member of the task force, says officers have recently taken down three recyclers operating illegally in northwest Atlanta.
Recently, though, the Bureau of Code Compliance has fallen on hard times, losing nearly one third of its officers — 11 — to city layoffs. The bureau's director, Tim Hardy, also was "relieved of his duties" last week for unrelated reasons, Hawkins said.
The remaining officers are left to tackle a problem created by owners who walk away from their properties and mortgage lenders who fail to pay for foreclosed homes to be boarded up properly.
Scott Bland, who runs a business that maintains vacant homes, is all too familiar with the latter. His company, Georgia Property Preservation, works for 10 different banks and currently watches over 4,000 empty homes in metro Atlanta.
Banks typically follow the minimum federal housing guidelines in boarding up homes, which Bland says do little to stop burglars. As a result, it's Bland who keeps returning to homes — sometimes as many as 10 times — to secure them after break-ins.
"They just keep paying," said Bland, adding that the secret to securing homes is using lesser-known bolts or screws that are difficult for burglars to remove. "It's almost like you're robbing the bank because they don't want to do it the right way the first time."
Bland, 39, of Acworth is one of the few who profit off the foreclosure crisis. A former electrician, he says his yearly gross income is $1.6 million. Bland predicts it will undoubtedly grow next year, when he predicts the number of vacant homes in metro Atlanta will double.
If he's right, Atlanta will be in trouble.
Dallas, the police major, is feeling more optimistic. He's hoping that the demolition this summer of two large public housing complexes in his area — Bowen Homes and Bankhead Courts — will help fill some of the vacant properties.
"They're going to need somewhere to stay," he said. "They're probably not going to move outside city limits. That would be the biggest help — to have those homes occupied."
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
About Vacant Investment Protection
Vacant Investment Protection is focused on providing the best in rental security windows and doors for one reason... protecting your investment. Our company was developed right here in the United States because we believe in serving our community and country with solutions that make everyone safe and secure.
VIP has the solution for banks; property management companies; construction companies; individual homeowners; communities; and government entities. Our products are not only used for the foreclosure market based vacant properties, but also buildings and homes under construction; vacation homes, disaster relief properties; vacant government properties; and more. By utilizing our products and services; these vacant properties can be secured and deter undesirable vandals from entering properties; thus saving investors a great deal of money while protecting communities.
Our products are rented on a monthly basis and installed by skilled professionals to eliminate damage to properties. VIP steel window screens are perforated, allowing natural air and light to penetrate thru; making it comfortable for contractors and vacant property buyers to function comfortably inside.
Our Philosophy, at it’s foundation, is driven by a desire to provide the utmost in professional customer service and solid, quality products.
The team at VIP currently serves the southeastern part of the United States with plans to expand during the 2010 year and beyond.
VIP has the solution for banks; property management companies; construction companies; individual homeowners; communities; and government entities. Our products are not only used for the foreclosure market based vacant properties, but also buildings and homes under construction; vacation homes, disaster relief properties; vacant government properties; and more. By utilizing our products and services; these vacant properties can be secured and deter undesirable vandals from entering properties; thus saving investors a great deal of money while protecting communities.
Our products are rented on a monthly basis and installed by skilled professionals to eliminate damage to properties. VIP steel window screens are perforated, allowing natural air and light to penetrate thru; making it comfortable for contractors and vacant property buyers to function comfortably inside.
Our Philosophy, at it’s foundation, is driven by a desire to provide the utmost in professional customer service and solid, quality products.
The team at VIP currently serves the southeastern part of the United States with plans to expand during the 2010 year and beyond.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Vacant Investment Protection Cares
V.I.P. CARES...
About the environment! When you use our service you can GO GREEN too, because we are eco - conscious and believe in the longevity of preserving the environment by reusing and recycling all of our equipment. Even right down to our warehouse we are pro active in conserving energy! We have a tremendous interest in upholding our communities where our friends, families, and fellow Americans live!
The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research group, estimates that a home’s value is reduced by about 1% for every home that is vacant in the neighborhood . We want to help homeowners and investors increase their value in their homes, and keep addicts, thieves, and vandals out of our neighborhoods. Our systems are very durable and highly resistant to theft. By taking the steps and use our system you can avoid costly repairs, maintain your property value, and preserve your vacant property so that you can get the full value for your investment.
About the environment! When you use our service you can GO GREEN too, because we are eco - conscious and believe in the longevity of preserving the environment by reusing and recycling all of our equipment. Even right down to our warehouse we are pro active in conserving energy! We have a tremendous interest in upholding our communities where our friends, families, and fellow Americans live!
The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research group, estimates that a home’s value is reduced by about 1% for every home that is vacant in the neighborhood . We want to help homeowners and investors increase their value in their homes, and keep addicts, thieves, and vandals out of our neighborhoods. Our systems are very durable and highly resistant to theft. By taking the steps and use our system you can avoid costly repairs, maintain your property value, and preserve your vacant property so that you can get the full value for your investment.
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