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Scrap dealers say police are slow to respond to calls about cable thieves
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January 29th, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
Companies say they call the cops, but no-one shows until the crooks are long gone
There have been three major cable thefts from BaneDanmark train lines in less than a week. The thefts wreak havoc on commuter traffic and raise questions in people's minds about where the thieves can sell the copper cables and why the police can’t seem to nab the crooks.
Several local scrap dealers say that police are simply too slow in coming when they report that someone has shown up trying to sell the cables.
No blue lights flashing
Martin Ibinger, the commercial manager at the large recycling company Stena Recycling, said that he refuses to buy the easily recognisable contraband, but he has given up calling the police because they simply take too long to get to the scene.
“They do not come with flashing blue lights,” Ibinger told Politiken.
A representative from another company, GP Metal in Glostrup, said they are occasionally approached by those trying to sell purloined cables.
“You recognise them,” GP Metal production manager Jørgen Knudsen told Politiken. “They have DSB or a recognisable design stamped on them.”
Knudsen said his employees do not call the police to alert them about cable thieves. The reason, he said, is that the police do not respond.
“Not one whit,” said Knudsen. “The police do not bother coming.”
“It takes a hell of a long time”
Knudsen said that he sends cable thieves packing, and they have stopped showing up at his shop.
READ MORE: Cable thieves mess up DSB morning commute again
Another executive from a large recycling company echoed Knudsen’s story.
“They know they can not sell the stuff here, so they do not come here anymore and I’m fine with that,” he told Politiken.
But he has also given up calling the police if he recognises mass transit cables.
“We know from experience that it takes a hell of a long time before someone comes, and we cannot hold them.”
Trade association united
The executive said that it has been a few years since cable thieves have approached him.
Knudsen said that the metal trade association has established a partnership so that all member companies are informed of major thefts of metals and will reject sellers of goods suspected to originate from those thefts. They also require identification from sellers.
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