Multiple burglaries took place in Sproul Hall, which is currently undergoing renovations, in September.
“There were six spools of copper stolen from one of the floors in Sproul Hall and some other equipment was taken from a different area under construction in Sproul,” University Police Detective Carlos Franco said.
Copper pipes and fittings, along with 12 100-foot electrical cords, were also taken, according to the crime logs documenting the burglaries.
The thefts occurred over two different incidents during the same weekend, Franco said.
Calls made to the construction company were not returned.
Copper piping plays a key role in facilitating the cleaning, testing and balancing of the construction project, according to Daily Bruin archives.
Thefts of such an important tool delay construction and can prove quite expensive.
One of the incidents caused a monetary loss of $3,500 and the other caused a loss of about $4,200, he said.
The theft of copper from construction sites has become more prevalent all over the country in the last year according to the Los Angeles Times.
Increased thefts are due to the demand and the high price of metal, which is currently selling for about $3.39 a pound, according to the Times.
But this was not the first occasion of copper theft at UCLA.
In the final stages of construction on the Engineering 1 Replacement Building, theft resulted in an excess cost of $15,000 and set the project back two days, according to Daily Bruin archives.
“The theft of copper is pretty widespread,” Franco said.
“And it’s not just at UCLA. This has been going on for a few years now in construction cases.”
Despite the prevalence of burglaries, catching the thieves can be difficult.
“Sometimes the losses aren’t reported right away,” Franco said.
“The construction workers just think they’ve misplaced the copper and it gets reported a few days to a week later.”
According to the Times, most stolen metal is shipped to recyclers in Los Angeles and is headed to the fast growing economy of China within 24 hours.
It is hard, therefore, to know the exact time of the burglaries at UCLA, Franco said.
And likely due to this delay in reporting, the thieves in Sproul Hall were successful and have not yet been caught.
Detective Franco and others are doing their best to solve the mystery, but students are still uncomfortable with the thefts.
“If copper was stolen right in Sproul Hall, it makes me nervous that other important equipment could be stolen elsewhere on campus,” third-year psychology student Hannah Lyden said.
“I hope actions are being taken to make UCLA more secure and to stop future burglaries,” she said.
Contractors and campus police are diligent in ensuring the safety of students, faculty and staff, as well as property and construction sites, UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton has said according to Daily Bruin archives.