Rio Rancho and Bernalillo police are stepping up patrols to help prevent copper wire thefts that recently have been on the rise in both communities.

Rio Rancho police are focusing on construction sites, commercial areas and new residential developments, said police spokesman John Francis.

Bernalillo Police Chief Fred Radosevich said his officers are focusing on cellular phone towers and the town's two New Mexico Rail Runner Express stations. He said the town recently experienced copper wire thefts at an AT&T tower off South Hill Road and at a maintenance yard at the Downtown Bernalillo Rail Runner station.

Both departments are asking residents to keep their eyes open and report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

Thieves are taking copper wiring for profit, Francis said. Once the wiring is taken, it is stripped of its protective covering and taken to scrap metal buyers and sold.

Radosevich said the town is not seeing copper thefts every day, but has seen an increase possibly due to the current price of copper.

In Valencia County, which has also seen an upturn in copper wire thefts, authorities recently told the Valencia County News Bulletin that the copper content is worth $4 a pound.

There are no scrap metal buyers in Rio Rancho, so perpetrators are taking the copper wire to buyers in the Albuquerque area and selling it, Francis said.

Some scrap metal buyers are no longer accepting spools of copper wire and are requesting identification from those wanting to sell the copper, Francis said.

He said thieves can be putting themselves at great risk.

"They are getting brazen and going to live electrical boxes and live transformer boxes," he said. "It is extremely dangerous to go into a live electrical box."

Francis said the depart- ment recently has seen a slight increase in copper wire thefts.

Police received a report Monday morning that a transformer box on Veranda Road had been broken into and the wiring taken. The box is near a business that is under construction, Francis said.

"It looks like a vehicle drove up to (the transformer) and (someone) hooked a rope to the transformer box," Francis said. "They used the vehicle to rip the box off its pedestal in order to steal 200 feet of copper wire."

Many contractors in the Northern Meadows area have set up surveillance cameras to prevent the thefts of copper wire as well as appliances that are placed in newly built homes, Francis said. Police patrols also are being increased in that area.

Francis said homeowners, developers and commercial property owners are left holding the bag.

"We've spoken to victims and they are out double the money," Francis said. "Now they have to replace the copper wire and repair the damage."

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