Some people in the metro haven’t been able to use their landline phones for weeks because of copper thieves.   

The city of St. Paul told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS several neighborhoods are impacted by the theft.  

“We’re now learning phone lines and so the landlines in several neighborhoods in Saint Paul are down,”  St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said. “So that means you can’t call 911 from a landline in that situation.” 

A new state law goes into effect on Jan. 1 will try to stop the crime by requiring a license for copper wire recycling.

“The thieves will take any type of wire that they think that has copper in it,” Kershaw said. “If they have to have a license to sell that we think that they’ll be less likely to steal it and that scrapyards will be less likely to purchase the stolen copper.”

Century Link sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS this statement about the copper thefts:

“This extended outage is due to multiple cases of copper theft. These crimes have severely hampered our ability to restore service due to the extensive damage caused during the theft. In some instances, we have repaired service only to be the victim of copper theft again in the same location. Crews are working as quickly as possible to restore service. We recognize the inconvenience this causes and appreciate our customer’s patience.