While it’s difficult to say if it’s a long-term trend or just an anomaly, some area law enforcement professionals say they are once again seeing an increase in copper theft.

The increase can be seen in daily police reports that detail wires ripped from the walls of vacant homes and badly damaged air conditioning units at area businesses, homes and even some churches that were stripped of their copper pieces.

“It had gotten bad about two years ago and then it sort of died down,” said Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner.

At least in the past few months, however, he and others confirmed copper theft is back on the upswing.

“I don’t know whether it’s the economy, or what it is, that has brought it back up again,” the chief said.

The problem isn’t just noticeable in police reports from Cherokee County authorities. It’s an ongoing issue as well in neighboring Spartanburg County, where authorities recently teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to announce federal charges will be filed against those who released freon into the atmosphere while hacking up several air conditioning units.

“Without going into hard numbers we saw an increase when the price for scrap copper was high a couple of years ago,” said Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Tony Ivey.

Spartanburg County Council responded by passing an ordinance that addressed the amount of copper a person may possess and required documentation. Ivey said those actions did initially result in a decrease in copper theft reports but now they’re on the rise again, particularly over the past six months.

“I am not sure if the price paid for scrap copper has once again gone up but it would help make some sense out of why we are seeing an increase in the number of copper theft reports,” he said. “If you are not getting a decent price for a product then why make the effort to go out and steal it?”

Locally, copper is selling for about $2.40 to $2.60 a pound and the prices have been rising a little bit recently, according to one area scrap yard.

A big part of the problem with copper theft is that the damage left behind often far exceeds the value of the copper.

“It’s a nightmare,” said one local businessman, who not only had his business targeted but also a new home he was building.

At the businessman’s workplace, about $1,300 in damage recently was done when copper thieves pulled up in a car and cut all the wires and connections between three exterior air conditioning units and the business. The thieves apparently planned to come back later for the units.

Just about a month later, thieves targeted a construction site where the businessman had a new home being built.

“All in all they took about $100 or less in copper and they did about $8,500 in damage,“ the businessman said. “They had to re-wire my whole house.”

Because of the incident, the businessman had to take extra precautions that added to his financial losses. “I had to hire a private security company to sit out there every night until I got an alarm system and cameras up,” he said. “That cost me a small fortune.”

A state law passed in 2008 requires scrap metal dealers to keep detailed records on sellers of certain kinds of metal such as copper, including their names, addresses, license plate number and a description of the metals.

The same law gives police the right to inspect those records.

Turner confirmed his officers have been able to benefit from that law. “On several cases, the fact (scrap yards) have to document anybody that brings copper into them, that has aided us in the past,” Turner said.

But it’s not a perfect deterrent, he conceded. “That (stolen) copper is going somewhere,” he said.

It’s possible it’s being taken out of the region or state.

Blacksburg Police Chief Jamie Ham said he hasn’t seen an increase in copper thefts within the Blacksburg town limits, where neighbors live closer together and tend to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, but he is aware of rising theft reports in the more rural sections around Blacksburg.