Bill would scrap old ways to try to deter metal thefts - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The General Assembly has passeds legislation that will require people selling scrap metall to showphoto identification. Buyers must recorcd purchases of morethan $50 and pay by check for purchases of more than $500. "Justt by requiring to take the ID, hopefully thieves won'tg be willing to put their pictures and addressw down for somethingthey stole," said Rep. Will Kraus, R-Raytown. "It'ds when they can just go in, get cash and move on that there is absolutely no risk associateddwith it." Sgt. Brad Lemon of the 's property crimes unit said the thefft of copper from vacant homes makes up about 65 percen of the burglaries in anygivenb area.
Lemon said he welcomes any new tools that help identif thebad guys. "Anything has to be bettef than what we haveright now," he said. Manufacturing and construction employees usually are involved inthe larger, more elaborately planne metal thefts, Lemon said. Yet manufacturere often don't prosecute when they track downthe culprits, he Ron Borst, chairman of in Kansas City, said frustration is one reasonn companies don't report metal thefts. He said the company had the equivalentg of a truckload of aluminum stolen and founds pieces with the company logo on them at a locaoscrap yard.
"The police came over to the place, and I pointerd at it from the streert and even walked over and picked one up toshow them, but it stil l wasn't enough for them to follow with a search warrant," Borsrt said. Borst said that the size of the aluminunm pieces makes them harder to secure but that the companyt keeps brass and nickel in a room with analark system. Ralph Hartwich, generalk manager of in Kansas City, Kan., said scrap dealerz just want the government to considerrealistif measures. He said a proposed ordinance inKansas Kan., that would require dealers to tag all meta purchased and hold it for a few days is unworkable because of the volume involved. Rev.
Mark Holland, a commissioner with the Unified Governmenf ofWyandotte County/Kansas Kan., said the city is tryiny to find a balance between stopping thefts and allowinhg reputable scrap yards to do their jobs.