No, not talking about the banning of old Overkill DVDs. But about how the State of Delaware's war on crime and terror has taken a detour on is now fixated on using its heavy-handed bureaucracy to make enterprise impossible for small scrap metal recyclers.Delaware Online
reports:Carmen Micucio Jr. thinks state lawmakers may have dealt a death blow
to the recycling business he's spent 26 years building in Glasgow.
And he's not alone. Scrap dealers across the state are protesting
new regulations that go into effect June 1 requiring, among other
things, licensing, detailed documentation on all items bought and sold
and waiting periods that will slow the sale of scrap metal in a time of
turbulent prices.
"The law puts Delaware dealers at a competitive
disadvantage because there are dealers just over the line in Chester,
Pa., who are not subject to that law," said Scott Sherr, president of
Diamond State Recycling in Wilmington, the state's largest scrap metal
processor.
The law, adopted a year ago, was designed to tighten
regulation of scrap metal processors, pawnshops and secondhand dealers
to help police stem the flow of stolen goods.
A second law passed
in April further tightened regulations on the resale of copper after a
slew of thefts this spring at homes, farms and construction sites
fueled by the rapid jump in world copper prices.
Violations of the new law are misdemeanors punishable by $10,000 fines and the loss of the dealer's license.
Sherr
and Micucio say legislators never visited them before writing the law
to see how the business works and assess how the new regulations would
hurt.
"They railroaded this through," Sherr said. "We're going back to Legislative Hall and tell them why it won't work."
Police
and lawmakers contend the law was needed to make sure dealers keep
better records so police would be able to track people who pawned or
sold stolen property.
The law also requires that dealers keep
metals they buy on hand for 18 days before reselling them, a step
police say is needed so stolen materials can be tracked -- and the
seller identified -- before they are crushed or melted down.
Every
scrap metal processor must specifically state on a form how all copper,
silver, gold or brass was acquired. The forms must be kept for a year
and provided to police upon request.
Sgt. Joshua Bushweller, a
Delaware State Police spokesman, said dealers and processors now must
create a record of every transaction, identifying the seller and
including a photocopy of a photo ID. The form also includes a line to
indicate whether the property was stolen.
"If a criminal walks in
and tries to pawn off stolen property, it's highly unlikely that it
will be listed as stolen, but they are going to have to provide their
information," Bushweller said. "It gives law enforcement a direction to
follow. If people are selling property with no criminal intent, they
have no need to be worried."
The dealers say the record-keeping burden and holding periods will devastate operations.
Micucio,
who says he moves 12,000 tons of scrap metal a month, said complying
with the law will keep him bogged down in paperwork and disrupt the
flow of his operation.
"We have 300 people a day who come though
our facility," he said. "We have traffic backed up to Old Baltimore
Pike. Now, I have to take identification, buy a copier and the paper,
and hire someone to handle all the paperwork. It's going to cost me
another $50,000."