Dark streets linked to thousands of copper thefts in L.A.: report

The City of Los Angeles received more than 11,000 calls about street lights going dark during the first three months of 2024, according to data compiled by the non-profit news outlet Crosstown L.A.

The vast majority of those issues are assumed to be linked to thieves stripping copper wire from critical equipment, a problem that has been plaguing the region for the last several years.

Thieves have been targeting copper wire wherever they can find it, often damaging street lights, traffic signs and even railroad tracks . The copper can be sold illegally to recyclers for an easy profit.

As of May 1, the price of copper was more than $4.50 per pound, according to Commodity.com .

Crosstown found there were 3,880 reports of dark streets in March alone, up 69% from March 2023 and the highest monthly total since at least 2016. The neighborhoods with the most service requests are downtown L.A., Boyle Heights and Westlake.

In the 15-month period between January 2023 and April 2024, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting received 1,344 requests for service in just City Council District 11, which encompasses Brentwood, Del Mar, Pacific Palisades, Sawtelle, Venice and LAX.

The district is represented by Councilmember Traci Park, who spoke to Crosstown about the thefts and their impacts on critical infrastructure, such as street lights.

“When lights are out, it impacts pedestrian and driver safety. It can contribute to an increase
in crime,” Park told Crosstown. “Oftentimes, live wires present dangers both to members of
the public and first responders.”

She told Crosstown that the repairs have cost Los Angeles taxpayers more than $20 million over the past year.

In 2021, the Bureau of Street Lighting received more than 22,000 service requests about damaged street lights. In 2022, that number shot up to more than 30,000 and remained about that high the following year.

If this year’s trend continues, 2024 will blow the previous records out of the water.

And while the city is doing its best to keep up with the repairs, the average wait time, according to the Department of Public Works, is more than 180 days.

“It is rampant across the city. We can’t even respond fast enough before the thieves are out there wrecking our infrastructure,” Park said. “It’s astounding how quickly this problem has grown.”

In the meantime, city leaders are attempting to tackle the problem head-on, Crosstown reports.

A task force has been assembled to combat the rising thefts, and L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto has warned recyclers to comply with local laws that outlaw the purchase of illegally obtained materials.

Mayor Karen Bass has also proposed allocating millions in the upcoming budget for repairs and preventative action.

Still, those efforts seem to be falling short as the copper thefts continue to escalate, leaving L.A. residents in the dark as little seems to get accomplished.

To read more about the findings and methodology used by Crosstown, click here .

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