The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association supported tougher laws and restrictions on scrap metal dealers and were instrumental in helping pass laws that provided for the same.

I would look at it two ways. One is the penalties, but the other is to try to stop them from basically selling their wares in the first place.

We think these measures would help us to catch them.

Thank you very much, Senator Hatch, and it is always good to do things on a bipartisan basis around here, and I am glad we are doing that.

I am very glad about that, and I think this has been really helpful.

We look forward to working with you.

In Minnesota, we are, as Senator Klobuchar alluded to, fortunate that we have tighter restrictions and regulations on scrap metal dealers.

Senator Pryor authored a bill called the Safe Viewing Act, which became law this past December.

I think it is also important to consider that these crimes... do have some effect or disruption on instrumentalities of interstate commerce.

I will never forget testifying at the legislature about this, and we actually had a case I was able to show.

to be sure, it must be coupled with legislation like we have here today in order to truly combat that problem.

Senator Hatch and I have introduced a bill that would place modest but important recordkeeping requirements on metal dealers in order to deter copper thefts.

Today we have a hearing with three goals: The first is to review the scale and scope of the metal theft problem as a criminal problem; we want to assess the threat that it poses to public safety and our critical infrastructure; and we want…

Today's hearing will examine the problem of metal theft in our country, the public hazards that this crime creates, and the challenges facing law enforcement as they attempt to combat this crime.

thieves are more likely to target utilities that are located in cities or suburbs rather than rural areas.

I wish there was some magic technology that would allow them to do that.

We also have to be careful about what is on TV. It makes a big difference in our kids' lives.

I was thinking for me, then having this hearing and having worked on this bill, some of this was new to me.