Copper wire thieves stripping streetlights of the expensive strands have plunged residents of a Los Angeles neighborhood into darkness — as the toll to taxpayers reaches into the millions, a city official revealed to The Post.
Bandits most recently targeted Mar Vista, leaving several blocks of the leafy enclave without lighting and forcing locals to carry flashlights.
“You’re walking down the sidewalk, you don’t see something, and all of a sudden a shadow looks different. You trip and fall,” resident Brent Dahlgren told Fox 11.
Copper has become gold for bandits who rip into the bottom of street lamps to swipe the wiring inside and sell it for scrap.
The cost of their crimes has skyrocketed to seven figures, with thousands of poles across LA in need of attention, the official said. A single pole can cost up to $2,000 to repair.
The thieves then sell the lucrative wiring for cash, no questions asked, with buyers often turning a blind eye to its origins, the official claimed.
“It’s an epidemic. They do it very very quickly,’ LA Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes Mar Vista, told The Post. “These are brazen criminals and it happens in broad daylight.”
Park said when streetlights go out, it presents a potentially deadly situation. “It affected evacuations during the Palisades fire, some of the lights weren’t working properly,” she said.
Wire thieves were responsible for turning off lightson the Sixth Street Bridge, a span once adorned with thousands of LED lights visible for miles when it opened in 2022. Dubbed a “Ribbon of Light,” some thought it would even rival the Hollywood Sign.
Los Angeles’ Heavy Metal Task Force, headed by Councilman Kevin de León, has targeted metal theft by providing extra funding to police officers, who made more than 100 arrests in his district in 2024 and recovered thousands of pounds of stolen copper wire.
The task force has since spent all of its funding, the official said. It’s unclear where the program currently stands.
Park is trying to use “common sense” practices to catch the culprits, and encourages residents to turn over any Ring cam footage they may have of the thieves. She also says buyers of the wire need to be held accountable.
“I’m not one to stop barking until the problem is solved,” the councilwoman said.
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