Students might want to think twice about discarding those loose pennies following a slew of copper thefts at ASU.
There have been at least five instances of copper theft on campus since June. During a 15-day period in June a number of thefts at ASU's Karsten Golf Course took place.
The latest theft on campus occurred Aug. 21, when a representative from the Netsain Company left a 70-foot coil, estimated about $350, outside of Palo Verde East for an hour, according to a police report.
"Copper theft is a big problem in the Valley right now," said Cmdr. Jim Hardina of ASU Police.
Copper theft usually occurs on a construction site, Hardina said, but Karsten Golf Course was the latest victim this summer.
Green copper siding that covered some outside walls and roofs of the bathrooms near the 18th tee and 14th green was stolen during a two-week period in June, according to the police reports.
"It's frustrating," said Daryl Crawford, director of golf for Karsten.
Crawford said the roof and walls are currently being replaced by gavalum — which looks like steel or a tin metal — instead of copper, but the total replacement costs are still about $20,000.
Crawford added that the ordeal has been a headache and the course is another victim of a statewide problem.
Mary Poulton, the department head of UA Mining and Geological Engineering, said copper prices have risen dramatically in the last three years.
Copper prices — about $0.75 per pound in 2003 and about $4 per pound today — have risen due to increased demand from developing countries like China, India, Brazil and Russia, Poulton added.
Rising copper prices has become the principal driver for copper thefts in the state, said Det. Stacie Derge of Phoenix Police Department.
In order to help prevent copper theft, businesses could engrave their company name or a serial number on their copper wiring, so any stolen copper can be identified, Derge said.
If businesses can afford it, they could put up barbed wire on their fences or put up solid fences so thieves cannot see through a chain-linked fence; or hire security guards, Derge said.
An ASU police officer on duty did patrol the Karsten area to help stop future copper thefts over the summer, Hardina said.
But an officer on patrol at Karsten takes away from an officer's time spent patrolling ASU's Tempe campus, he added.
Michael Breedlove, a golf management junior, golfed Karsten in July and noticed the bare walls on the 18th tee bathroom.
"I thought they were redoing [the bathroom]," Breedlove said. "Karsten is about great golf and a great time and I think it's horrible that someone would deface the golf course like that."
A small green air vent and a small rectangular area a couple feet long on the roof is about all the copper left on the bathroom on the 18th green.
Reach the reporter at: jeffrey.mitchell@asu.edu.
