Who Steals Metal from Transport Networks?

• In Event: Crime and Place: Crime and Transport

Abstract

Metal theft has become an increasing problem in recent years, particularly theft of metal from infrastructure networks, construction sites and heritage areas. A lack of robust research has led practitioners to make unjustified assumptions about different aspects of the problem. With no reliable evidence on who steals metal, policy makers and police have assumed metal theft to be an organized crime with strong links to mobile criminals, particularly (in Europe, at least) those from specific ethnic groups. The present research used criminal records of 1,200 offenders arrested for stealing metal from the railway network in Great Britain to determine who steals metal, how mobile they are and whether the thefts were being conducted by organized crime groups.

Author

• Matthew Ashby, University College London