DAVIESS CO., KY (WFIE) -
There's a new law in Kentucky designed to curb the sale of stolen scrap metal.
In Daviess County, the sheriff says it may not solve the problem but it will help.
At least one scrap dealer has a different take on all this.
Captain Bill Thompson with the Sheriff's Office said, "Seems like there's not a week go by and we don't take two or three theft reports of scrap metal. We've had tractors stolen and recovered."
For that reason, scrap metal buyers have to be careful when purchasing metal. They don't want to buy something that's been stolen.
Scrap metal buyer John Drew Kirkland, said "When a customer comes in we get their licenses. It's scanned and put on record. We've always had an open records law with our police agencies."
A new Kentucky state law is making it harder for people trying to sell stolen scrap metal.
The law requires buyers to do more paper work and notify law enforcement when they buy restricted metals. If the restricted metals are approved, the seller can only be paid with a check and must wait until the next day to get the money.
"Material that comes from railroads, comes from utilities, man whole covers," said Kirkland.
"Could it be stricter? It probably could. It would be a big help is it was expanded to any kind of scrap metal at all," said Cpt. Thompson.
Some buyers say there needs to be more done once the people trying to sell the stolen metal are caught.
Kirkland said, "Police and sheriff's department do a great job of catching the people. If we would just retain them and not turn them lose."
And that the new law can be confusing to people.
"The first person we caught in our net was a church was taking out some aluminum copper radiators and came over and did not have the proper paper work and the minister had to come over and sign a notice on the top of their heading," said Kirkland.
One thing these metal buyers want the public to know is your basic recycler. Someone selling cans or small amounts of copper won't be affected because those aren't restricted metals.
The restricted metals are as follows:
(a) Manhole covers;
(b) Electric light poles or other utility poles;
(c) Guardrails;
(d) Street signs, traffic signs, or traffic signals;
(e) Whole road tiles;
(f) Funeral markers or funeral vases;
(g) Railroad equipment, including but not limited to a tie plate, signal house, control box, switch plate, e-clip, or rail tie junction;
(h) Condensing or evaporating coils made from copper, aluminum, or aluminum-copper, including the tubing or rods from a heating or air conditioning unit that is not from a window air conditioning unit or automobile air conditioning unit;
(i) Stainless steel beer kegs;
(j) A catalytic converter or any nonferrous part of a catalytic converter unless purchased as part of a vehicle ; or
(k) Storm drain covers; and
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