Nine metal thefts every day over the past year
Metal thieves struck on average nine times every day in the West Midlands over the past year.
But measures to ban cash payments for metal at scrapyards appear to be working as across the country the number of thefts began falling dramatically during the year.
Nationally, there were 20,151 cases from April to June 2012 but this fell to 12,076 in January to March of last year.
In the West Midlands, the second largest police force area in the country, there were 3,427 cases of metal theft reported over the whole year – more than nine a day.
Staffordshire Police dealt with 1,234 cases and West Mercia with 716.
Dudley South MP Chris Kelly, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Combating Metal Theft, said: "Metal theft has a huge impact and costs the economy around £220 million a year. This crime affects everyone – from the stealing of cables that delay someone's rail journey home to the shocking theft of war memorials.
"That is why the Government has tightened the net around rogue sellers and funded a new taskforce to crack down on metal theft."
Last year the Government clamped down on rogue metal sellers by banning all scrap metal dealers from trading in cash.
Dealers were told they had to instead pay for metal with a cheque or electronic transfer. However, some dealers have been taking advantage of a loophole in the new law by cashing in cheques on their premises
Police also got new powers of entry to tackle illegal trading in metal yards.
And last month the Scrap Metal Dealers Act came into force requiring dealers to be licensed.
The law allows councils to refuse or revoke licences if a dealer is deemed unsuitable and to give magistrates the power to issue rogue traders with fines of up to £5,000.
Everything from railways to libraries, war memorials and churches have been targeted by metal thieves determined to strip out lead and copper for cash.
Often, the cost of the damage is more than the value of the metal they steal. In October, metal thieves looted copper pipes from the former Strykers bowling alley in Wolverhampton shortly after it shut.
