{"id":860,"date":"2026-05-29T10:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=860"},"modified":"2026-05-29T10:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:30:45","slug":"to-combat-copper-thefts-l-a-city-agency-seeks-its-own-armed-police-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=860","title":{"rendered":"To combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For thieves looking to strip Los Angeles for parts, copper has become a fast-moving currency.<\/p>\n

Read more Why the wild mega-spending era of L.A. school board races is quietly ending<\/a><\/p>\n

The problem has become so persistent that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is now asking for its own armed police force to protect vulnerable utility equipment, street lighting and critical infrastructure, insisting that the department\u2019s contracted and unarmed security guards aren\u2019t cutting it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lack the authority to detain or arrest suspects, intervene in crimes in progress, conduct searches, or carry firearms for enforcement purposes,\u201d according to a May 21 report from the city agency. \u201cDelays hinder timely intervention, reduce investigative effectiveness, and contribute to repeat victimization of LADWP facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under DWP\u2019s current \u201cobserve and report\u201d security model, an officer who sees someone cutting a fence or stripping copper from a transformer has little authority apart from yelling a warning or making a 911 call, . <\/p>\n

The proposal asks for 20 to 50 sworn officers to start, hired over a five-year period, along with support staff. If approved, the force would give the agency\u2019s officers the authority to carry a firearm, make arrests and investigate thefts. The plan was scheduled to be discussed Thursday by the City Council.<\/p>\n

The push comes as citywide service requests for streetlight repairs have surged over the last several years.<\/p>\n

The city logged 14,328 electronic streetlight service requests in 2018, according to data from the Bureau of Street Lighting. Requests have tripled since then, reaching an all-time high of 46,079 in 2024, the last full year of available data.<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 office said in March that copper thefts are a leading cause of streetlight outages. Repairs have been backlogged for months<\/u>. <\/p>\n

Prices for the metal are at an all-time high, driven by major supply disruptions in Indonesia and Chile, and soaring demand from artificial intelligence data centers and electric grid infrastructure. Thieves typically exchange the metal for cash at recycling centers, where it can fetch up to $5.30 per pound. The City Council last year approved a program offering up to $5,000 for information in metal and wire theft cases. <\/p>\n

Read more Becerra leads governor\u2019s race, with Hilton and Steyer in tight contest for second spot, poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n

Theft losses alone exceed $1 million annually, according to DWP.<\/p>\n

Establishing a new police force would require changing the city charter, meaning voters will have a say come the November midterm elections. Authorities will also need to obtain state legislative approval for the plan.<\/p>\n

Officials said rolling out the police department would cost $9.7 million over three years, plus up to $6 million annually to pay for staffing. They maintain those costs are less than the $46 million combined DWP spends each year on private security contractors and unarmed staff security. <\/p>\n

Any cost overflows would be paid for by DWP customers. <\/p>\n

Timothy O\u2019Connor, executive director for the Los Angeles Office of Public Accountability, a spending watchdog, said his office is not convinced that the agency could minimize long-term cost creep, or that the new force would offset enough costs to justify the program. The proposed force of a few dozen officers, he said, would be too small to get the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheft losses at DWP are real and are increasing. However, eliminating these losses is not enough to offset the proposed costs,\u201d he said. \u201cFurthermore, DWP will be unable to fully eliminate theft given the diffuse nature of the DWP system.\u201d<\/p>\n

But O\u2019Connor also said the department is faced with real security risks like those posed by drone attacks or terrorism threats, which he said \u201cappear to justify the proposal at some level.\u201d <\/p>\n

In February, a man shot himself after he drove his car through the perimeter fence of a power substation while carrying explosives and several firearms. Dubbing the incident an attempted terrorist attack, officials said the episode could have caused catastrophic infrastructure damage.<\/p>\n

David Levitus, executive director of the advocacy group LA Forward, said he was surprised to learn of the proposal so late in Los Angeles\u2019 ongoing charter reform process, which his organization has monitored closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that this is being dumped in late May \u2014 what\u2019s the rush?\u201d Levitus said. \u201cI think we really need to be wary of creating new police departments in general, but especially without a clear case and clear constraints and accountability mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The latest on our gray whales<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Water and Power is seeking authorization to create its own armed security force to protect the city’s infrastructure and guard against copper thieves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTo combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=860\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Department of Water and Power is seeking authorization to create its own armed security force to protect the city's infrastructure and guard against copper thieves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=860\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T10:30:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"To combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T10:30:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860\"},\"wordCount\":745,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a9277eb5cccb2798ccbfd94109fb7433-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860\",\"name\":\"To combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a9277eb5cccb2798ccbfd94109fb7433-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T10:30:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=860#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a9277eb5cccb2798ccbfd94109fb7433-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a9277eb5cccb2798ccbfd94109fb7433-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Los Angeles, CA - May 20, 2026 : People navigate at the intersection of Main Street and 7th as streetlights no longer light up the streets in downtown LA on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA. 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