When arsonists set fire to Rocky Mount Baptist Church near Sylacauga in October 2006, it was only the beginning of the church’s problems.
A day later, someone stole a new heating unit outside the Coosa River Baptist Association church’s remaining family life center to harvest its copper piping. While those responsible for the fire were caught and convicted, the culprit or culprits in the copper theft have never been identified.
Just as Rocky Mount Baptist is not the only Alabama Baptist church to endure the heartache of arson, other churches have also had copper stolen from their heating and air-conditioning units. Churches are not the only buildings targeted in these thefts, but they are among the hardest hit, according to state officials.
“Thieves are going for copper because of the high price it brings,” said Dennis Elliott, pastor of Rocky Mount, noting in his church’s case, the thieves went to a lot of trouble to get it.
“They pulled the copper out all the way from the unit, which was outside, into the attic,” he said. “They took it all. They just took everything.”
The unit was found abandoned by a lake in the next county, minus its copper piping.
Otis Corbitt, an associate in the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said churches located in rural areas that are not occupied much of the week have always been favorite targets for break-ins and thefts.
“This kind of thing is really not a new problem for churches,” Corbitt said. Targeting copper “just happens to be a new twist on it.”
And Randy Blake, service supervisor with Brown Heating and Cooling in Hueytown, believes the problem is increasing. “Up until recently, every once in a while, there would be a copper theft,” said Blake, who has worked at Brown Heating for 15 years. “Over the past two years, it’s been really bad for copper thefts, and [last] summer [was] out of control.
“It seems like every day we get a call from someone to get an estimate for the replacement or repair of an air-conditioning unit because the copper has been stolen,” he said.
In 2007, hundreds of copper thefts were reported in the Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area, according to The Birmingham News.
Incidents were reported right up to the end of the year as Scott Bush, senior pastor of Southcrest Baptist Church, Bessemer, in Bessemer Baptist Association, returned after Christmas to find his church had been the victim of a copper theft. “Someone destroyed three five-ton (air-conditioner) units,” he said.
Copper theft is enough of a problem in the Birmingham area alone that the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office formed a copper theft task force in October 2007, a month after a state law went into effect to deal with the situation.
“When any crime increases, it gets the attention of the citizens and the administration,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale. “It was a big enough problem that the Legislature decided it needed a law to control it.”
The new law requires scrap dealers to record the name, address, driver’s license number and license plate of anyone selling scrap metals such as copper and to pay by check when buying scrap copper valued at more than $100.
Hale said the price of copper fluctuates with the market and the quality of the copper but it can sell for as little as $2.50 a pound and as high as $3.10 per pound.
In addition to the statewide law, the Jefferson County task force is seeking to reduce the problem in its area with a two-pronged approach:
- Educating utility companies, homeowners associations, neighborhood watch groups, law enforcement agencies, etc., about the problem.
- Enforcement against those stealing the copper and dealers not abiding by the new law.
Corbitt said churches can also work to prevent thefts on their own.
“[C]hurches need to be concerned about securing their property,” he said, noting that there are reasonable things a church can do, including the addition of security lighting, adequate door locks, video cameras, etc.
Elliott said Rocky Mount has already begun to take precautions with its new unit bolted to a concrete base and surrounded by a locked fence.
The church plans to be even more cautious with the two additional units that will be necessary when the main building is rebuilt, he said. Plans call for a mobile home on-site where an individual will live and guard church property.
“We will make preparations to prevent this from happening again,” Elliott said.
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