Critical infrastructure is central to the survival of telecommunications, gas, water, and power, so when metal is stolen, the results can be disastrous. Find out how to protect yourself against this.
There are several risks to critical infrastructure and public utilities, from power outages and communication disruption to travel delays and safety hazards, the disruption may be simple to cause, but difficult to resolve.
But how is metal theft impacting the industry and why have we seen a rise in this over recent years?
Why Is Critical Infrastructure Targeted For Metal Theft?
The simple answer is metal and money.
Critical infrastructure frequently involves valuable metals, particularly copper which can be easily extracted and sold onto scrap yards at a good profit for the thieves.
Copper theft has been on the rise over the years due to the value of it increasing, with it being predicted that by the end of 2025, copper prices may increase by an estimated 6.2%.
With resale value high, criminals are willing to risk the operational disruption caused by such crime based on the financial prize at the end of it.
The Impact of Metal Theft on Critical Infrastructure
In Louisville, Kentucky alone, the Deputy Mayor Nicole George shared recent statistics that copper theft once disabled 30 to 50% of the city’s interstate lighting.
This is just one city in one state, impacting ONE industry. Can you just imagine the impacts expanding across other critical infrastructure sectors where high-value metal and copper is present?
In addition to the above-mentioned issue, there are numerous other impacts of metal and copper theft on critical infrastructure, which include:
- Communication disruption from the theft of communication cable, impacting phone lines, emergency communication, and internet access.
- Safety hazards due to damaged infrastructure such as exposed wiring, malfunctioned emergency equipment, and damaged bridges.
- Water supply disruption from metal pipes being stolen which transport water.
- Economic loss from replacing metal or repairing equipment, all of which can be expensive and impact both businesses and public services.
- Transportation disruption from cabling, track, and construction material during development work being stolen.
- National security threats from stolen cabling or copper that could impact the state of emergency and key services.
Critical infrastructure as a whole is one that many individuals rely upon, making it one of the most important sectors in regard to security and future proofing its protection for the sake of your business and all those that utilize it.
How to Protect Your Critical Infrastructure From Metal Theft
There are multiple ways in which you can protect your critical infrastructure from metal theft.
With this it is recommended to those responsible for the security of infrastructure that you combine small and large measures to ensure optimized protection against such crime.
Using our knowledge in surveillance solutions and insight from the industry, we formed the best measures you should take to protect your critical infrastructure from metal and copper theft:
Install Mobile Surveillance
Providing both criminal deterrence and the tools to record and monitor any incidents, mobile surveillance is often considered the best way to secure your critical infrastructure against crime and the unique security challenges they face. Most importantly, metal theft.
Due to the consequences following metal theft, your main aim should be to prevent crime from taking place in the first instance.
With over 20-years developing best-in-class mobile surveillance solutions ourselves, we have been able to refine the response we provide to you towards such crime, with our Solar Surveillance Trailers offering the following benefits to critical infrastructure:
- 20-ft mast with the availability of up to 4 high-quality, IR PTZ cameras that can provide a near 360-degree coverage, even in complete darkness.
- Audio deterrents including blue lights and live voice-down audio messages to provide additional crime prevention.
- A fully-managed service, offering product maintenance, remote monitoring, and advanced camera technology for evidence gathering.
- Flexible rental options that support non-permanent critical infrastructure that is both cost-effective and less invasive, without skimping on quality.
- Easily relocatable, allowing you to move your Trailer by yourself to new hotspots or weak points at your critical infrastructure site
- Complete power autonomy that ensures critical infrastructure sites in even the most remote locations can receive security.
- Universal support for different critical infrastructure sectors, from data centres and telecommunications to fuel and chemical storage and ports.
By combining all the above features into an all-in-one, state of the art mobile surveillance solution has transformed critical infrastructure and how you can respond with your security.
Fixed security systems no longer suffice, so moving over to mobile surveillance will help boost your site’s protection and crime prevention, all of which can help save you from the costly consequences that come from metal theft.
Implement Perimeter Fencing and Physical Barriers
To ensure the protection of any critical infrastructure you should minimize the access to it and one of the best ways to do this is through implementing perimeter fencing and physical barriers.
Perimeter fencing's main aim is to reduce unauthorized entry and restrict the visibility of high-value equipment if possible.
However, with any security measure, you must ensure you utilize a fencing appropriate to the location, critical infrastructure, and its size. Selecting the cheapest option will not simply guarantee you security.
Instead, ensure you have a sturdy fence around the full perimeter which is of adequate height and potentially has additional features of barbed wire or anti-climb design to create further criminal deterrence.
There is a risk that by solely relying on perimeter fencing that you have no alarm trigger or recording tools to prevent or capture crime if a criminal decides to scale the fencing and access your critical infrastructure.
Therefore, you should aim to back this up with a mobile surveillance system or a form of monitoring and recording system for enhanced protection against any trespassing from thieves.
Access Control
Critical infrastructure will naturally need restricted access as only authorized, trained individuals should be able to enter it in a safe manner.
Access control can vary from safety locks and keyless PIN pads to turnstiles with employee identification cards.
For any site, there will be at least one gate to access the site, so you need to make sure that the access control that you utilize is suitable for your employees and the critical infrastructure’s safety.
Overall, this aims to limit access during the day, but also overnight which is where critical infrastructure is at heightened risk from being targeted for metal theft.
During the night, we’d recommend placing mobile surveillance or an alarm triggering system that monitors any motion detected near the entrance and/or exit of your site.
Utilize Metal Identification and Tracking
Tools and equipment at critical infrastructure sites, especially during construction or development work become easy targets for thieves.
Where possible, it is recommended that you mark any equipment that has high-value metal with a unique identification reference to your company. This could be a serial number, company logo, or through forensic security.
By doing this, it helps to provide protection to any items marked as criminals may look to avoid them as it increases the risk that they can be tracked or easier to identify if stolen. This could lead to criminal proceedings against the thieves which is the worst outcome for them.
Complete Risk Assessments and Identify Weak Spots
There are various risks linked to critical infrastructure, however, it’s key for the success of any security system to complete a risk assessment of your site.
Look at the potential risks to the equipment, cabling and any other items with high-value metal. This will help you establish the areas that may be targeted most, any blind spots or dark areas, and entry points in which criminals may take advantage of.
You should also keep in mind the safety of any intruders like the risk of any injuries that could be caused on site. Although this may not seem like it is your responsibility, however, you do hold a duty of care, even with intruders.
Once you have identified any weak spots, the next step is to consider how you will tackle each of them. Some may require specific support and prevention methods to limit those risks in particular.
Metal theft is a particularly common problem, so it’s likely in these scenarios that you’ll need an advanced system in place in order to prevent crime in the first place.
Community Engagement and Campaigns
You may not think that community engagement and campaigns provide much support to security, however, when managed correctly and where there is clear direction, they can help to prevent crime and support in the reporting of it.
Most communities will wish to avoid any crime due to the impact it can have on the area, property values, and increased safety concerns for any residents or visitors.
There are two main angles that can be taken with community engagement and campaigns:
- Crime Prevention - Communicate and create campaigns that inform individuals of the impact of crime to local residents, the legal and financial repercussions of this, and the risks of cutting cables or removing metal from live critical infrastructure.
- Crime Reporting Process - You may not be able to watch the critical infrastructure site at all times, so gaining support from residents and visitors in the community could help to prosecute criminals and retrieve stolen metal.
Through the use of campaigns and engagement you can provide relevant cell numbers, provide insight on the impact of such crime for them, and provide incentives for reporting.
For any communication and campaign, you need to ensure you utilize the correct methods of communication and are targeting the right audience. For example, placing posters near the site, but also around popular areas within the community where individuals are more likely to see it.
Build Positive Relationships with Law Enforcement
Theft is a criminal offence and Law Enforcement are designed to support the community and businesses with both preventing and supporting criminal cases related to this.
Therefore building good relationships with them could help protect your critical infrastructure against metal theft.
It helps to make them aware of the risks, informs them of any previous or current incidents, and maintains safety within the community.
Don’t Let Your Critical Infrastructure Become a Victim of Metal Theft
Assuming your critical infrastructure will not fall victim to metal theft is a major risk, one of which could impact millions of individuals and their livelihoods in which you could be held responsible for.
Being proactive in your approach is how to be successful with your site’s security and at WCCTV, we look to support exactly that.
All of our products provide a proactive and reactive response to preventing crime towards your infrastructure, allowing you to be as hands-free or hands-on as you need to be.
Speak with one of our security experts today to see how we can support you against metal theft.
