You have 1 more viewing!

ScrapTheftAlert.com is a Critical Tool for Law Enforcement

Washington, D.C. — A brazen art heist in the Washington, D.C. area late last week was solved on Tuesday thanks to an alert posted by the scrap industry’s online theft alert system.  

ScrapTheftAlert.com is a free theft notification web site that allows police to send detailed descriptions of stolen items to recycling operations and other law enforcement within a 100-plus mile radius of a theft.  The system also allows scrap processors to alert law enforcement when they are offered suspicious materials at the scrap yard.  The system currently has over 7,000 subscribers.  Nearly 2,500 law enforcement professionals in the U.S. and Canada are registered to use the system.

Five bronze sculptures were stolen from a museum in Montgomery County, Maryland late Friday or early Saturday.  The theft was noticed and reported to police on Monday morning.  Later on Monday, an employee of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) based in Washington, D.C., heard a report of the theft on a local news radio station.  That night, ReMA employees posted an alert for the missing material. 

The following morning, employees at Montgomery Scrap Corporation read the alert, recognized the materials that had been sold to the scrap yard the previous Saturday morning, and contacted Montgomery County Police.  The materials had not been initially recognized as artwork because the bronzes had been damaged prior to being offered for sale at the scrap yard.

“The ScrapTheftAlert.com system worked how it is supposed to and without it the sculptures might not have been recovered at all,” stated Aaron Hill, president of Atlantic Recycling Group which owns Montgomery Scrap Corporation.

To aid the investigation, Montgomery Scrap Corporation also supplied police with a copy of the drivers’ license of the seller which led to the police issuing an arrest warrant.

“ScrapTheftAlert.com works,” Hill said.  “When police are able to get detailed information about a theft to us quickly and we use the theft alert system the odds are much better that we can spot the material and provide police with information.”

“The theft alert system is designed for local law enforcement personnel to alert recycling companies to be on the look-out for stolen materials before they are presented to the recyclers,” stated Chuck Carr, ReMA vice president of member services.  The sooner local police file a theft alert on ISRI’s theft alert system after thefts are reported can prevent materials being purchased by recycling companies.”

“ISRI is proud to have developed a tool for law enforcement and scrap processors that is easy, useful and credible,” stated ReMA President Robin Wiener.  “Historically, commodity theft increases as prices increase.  Successfully combating this crime takes strong cooperative efforts between the scrap industry and law enforcement as well as industry and the general public.  The best place to deal with this crime is before the theft takes place it is vital that all stakeholders do their part to solve the crime by taking reasonable efforts to protect these valuable items, keeping an eye out for thieves, and sharing information as promptly as possible,” continued Wiener.

For more information and to subscribe to the nationwide theft alert system, visit www.scraptheftalert.com.  To learn more about ISRI’s theft prevention policies and procedures visit, www.isri.org/theft.

###

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the "Voice of the Recycling Industry."  ReMA represents more than 1,550 companies in 21 chapters nationwide that process, broker, and consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics, and textiles. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., ReMA provides education, advocacy, and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade and environment.