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August 7, 2008
TUPELO -
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Senate Bill 2006 has the
ability to slow metal theft in Mississippi,
but everyone will have to get on board to make it work.
Hosemann spoke to more than two dozen law enforcement personnel, state
representatives and media at Tupelo City Hall on Wednesday
about a plan to curb the "massive metal epidemic plaguing our state."
"Copper theft harms every citizen in the state," said Hosemann.
"It raises insurance costs and costs counties millions of dollars. It
fuels drug issues because people are using the money from the stolen metals to
buy drugs, so this is a problem that has to be taken care of."
Hosemann said Bill 2006, which was passed during the recent special session,
requires metal dealers to register with the state and to collect personal data
from people selling metals. Dealers who don't comply with the bill can be fined
or put in jail.
Dealers' data is kept on www.LeadsOnline.com. Police can log on to
collect data on metals that have been sold and were possibly stolen.
LeadsOnline 's president and CEO, Dave Finley, said by using the database to
access metal transactions, police will have information to go by to arrest
metal thieves.
"The system does not just work for metal thefts," said Finley.
"If you had something stolen and it was sold on eBay of at a pawn shop,
police could look on LeadsOnline and see who sold it and when and
make an arrest. It's the same concept with metal theft now. But we have to
cooperation from the metal dealers and that's what Bill 2006 has given
us."
Prentiss County Sheriff Randy Tolar said his department works about three metal
theft cases a week.
"The bill is going to be good for the victims," said Tolar. "We
got people going into homes and ripping wires out of walls and ceilings and
it's costing people a lot of money. This bill will give us something to go on
to try to catch these thieves."
Some dealers have said they feel the bill punishes them and not the criminals,
but Hosemann said that is not its intent.
"We are not interested in giving scrap dealers fines," said Hosemann,
"but we want to punish criminals who are selling stolen metals."
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