City leaders in St. Paul are getting more serious in cracking down on copper wire theft.
The city's website now has a link to a page showing what they want to do.
There's a public hearing Tuesday night on the issue at the police station on Hamline Avenue just north of Interstate 94.
According to the St. Paul Public Works Departments, theft of copper wire from city street lights last year alone cost taxpayers about $1.1 million dollars to fix.
Street lights harvested of copper wire don't work, leaving streets and roadways darkened for extended stretches.
Last year, a 64-year-old man was fatally injured in a hit-and-run crash that neighbors blamed on a St. Paul street darkened by out-of-commission lights.
Those lights did not work because the copper wire had been stripped away.
Copper prices have climed in recent year, and officials say that's leading to thieves targeting copper in every form and selling it to scrap yards for cash.