St. Paul city leaders talk ongoing work, new plans to slow rampant copper wire theft from streetlights

Renée Cooper & Jay Kolls KSTP

St. Paul city leaders talk ongoing work, new plans to slow rampant copper wire theft from streetlights

St. Paul city leaders talk ongoing work, new plans to slow rampant copper wire theft from streetlights

St. Paul Police hosted a community meeting on Tuesday night to address the city’s copper wire theft crisis.

City leaders, including Public Works Director Sean Kershaw, some City Council members and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, made an appearance and provided updates on efforts to slow the rampant stealing of wire from light poles that, for months, has continued to keep large portions of the city pitch black at night.

It’s a priority public safety problem, said St. Paul Police Deputy Chief of Operations Kurt Hallstom in a one-on-one meeting Tuesday morning.

“For the longest time it was isolated to the parkways, and the parks, and places that didn’t have a lot of residential living — you know, houses and things like that — that could have eyes on the areas,” he continued. “And now, it’s now it’s pretty much everywhere.”

As St. Paul’s officer staffing situation has improved recently, they’ve been able to focus more manpower on the issue, according to Hallstrom.

St. Paul city leaders talk ongoing work, new plans to slow rampant copper wire theft from streetlights

St. Paul city leaders talk ongoing work, new plans to slow rampant copper wire theft from streetlights

RELATED: St. Paul, Ramsey County beef up efforts to fight copper wire thefts

He said officers made nearly 30 arrests related to copper wire theft in the last three to six months, adding that charges were filed in almost all of those cases.

However, Hallstrom said it’s too soon to tell if those couple dozen arrests will make a real dent in the rampant copper wire theft.

“I definitely think it’s a bandwagon phenomenon that, you know, the people that are doing it talk to their friends, and they’re like, ‘You know, this is super easy,’ and off they go.”

What was abundantly clear is that the time spent by officers and city staff to replace lights — just to have them stolen again — is both critical and costly.

“I can’t really put an exact dollar amount on it,” Hallstrom said. “But it’s in the thousands of dollars just for the police department.”

St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said his department spent more than $1.1 million on wire replacement in 2023, adding that’s four times the cost to the department back in 2019.

His team is working on a few new ideas in hopes of a much more well-lit 2024, beginning with 90 new light poles. The big difference is a wire access panel that’s eight feet high compared to being at the base of the city’s classic lantern-style lights.

“So we think those will be much harder to steal wire from,” Kershaw said. “That’ll be the beginning of a longer-term solution.”

Public Works ordered and will install 90 of the new light poles, he said, adding that if they seem to deter theft, the plan is to invest in many more.

Nearly 100 people filled St. Paul Police Western District headquarters Tuesday night seeking answers to the problem leaving many places in the city in the dark.

Brenda Burnside is one of those who told city leaders, including Mayor Melvin Carter, they’re concerned.

“And even on our street, when we go down Rice Street, half the lights on one side of the street were on and the other half off,” said Burnside. “That’s when I got to thinking about it and I was like, yeah, because everybody feels safer when there’s some light, when you can see what’s going on.”

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry told residents making copper thieves feel the full weight of the law is important.

“We have to make it really hard to break into these light poles and take the metal,” said Henry.  “We have to be really serious about consequencing people when they do that.”

Mayor Melvin Carter said state lawmakers from St. Paul are working on legislation at the state Capitol.

“We know that keeping our communities lit, keeping our lake lit, keeping our sidewalks and our areas lit is critical to helping reduce the likelihood of opportunities for crime in the first place,” said Carter.

St. Paul said 30 people have been arrested recently for copper theft.

Choi said elevating penalties and requiring licensing for those who buy and sell copper would also be helpful.

“Maybe there is a way to carve out a theft statute that might have some enhanced penalties recognizing that when you’re stealing this type of stuff it impacts too many people,” said Choi.

Kershaw’s team also turned to the State Capitol this legislative session in hopes of slowing these thefts as lawmakers did with catalytic converters, by requiring a state-issued license to resell copper wire.

People with a legitimate need, like electricians, would automatically get one, he said.

It’ll cut out people who are illegally trying to sell it,” Kershaw continued. “And that will cut out the demand, and we think that will have an impact on the theft that’s taking place.”

Committee hearings on both the House and Senate versions of the licensing bill are expected any day now.

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