Following a statewide trend, sheriff's deputies in Southern Alameda County are pushing back against what they say is a metal-theft epidemic.

A Tri-Valley substation based at Dublin's Santa Rita county jail — commissioned six months ago to target rural crimes — has made copper theft a priority, said Sgt. Tom Rodriguez, who heads the substation.

Metal thieves have run roughshod over rural hillsides in the Altamont Pass in recent years, stealing copper wiring from power-generating windmills, Rodriguez said. The thieves are dogging home construction sites, power lines, irrigation systems and just about every imaginable place they can find the coveted metal.

The substation employs a detail of 16 deputies, including four who focus on metal theft and drug interdiction during overnight hours, when Rodriguez says most metal theft occurs. He believes the department's efforts are sending would-be crooks a message.

He said the detail has made more than 20 metal theft-related arrests, including some ringleaders.

"We have seen a reduction since we've been out here," Rodriguez said. "The (metal theft) problem has decreased."

Although primarily focused in rural areas, metal thieves have shown themselves to be resourceful, Rodriguez said, noting that while he was working for Hayward police, thieves hit a PG&E commercial yard on Clawiter Road at least 10 times from 2000 to 2004.

Metal theft, along with identity theft,

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is among the fastest growing 21st-century crimes, law enforcement officials say. A spike in the value of copper, which has more than quadrupled to about $4 a pound in the last five years, has fueled the metal theft surge.

PG&E has identified at least 1,200 metal theft incidents that have cost the company $3.9 million, a figure spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said does not include the cost of repairs and ancillary damage.

Just two weeks ago, the Calvary Bible Chapel in Fremont that Rodriguez attends was flooded after copper sprinkler heads were stolen, he said.

"It's crazy," Rodriguez said. "We're out there trying to catch these guys, and they're right here in our backyards."

Metal theft has become part of the culture of methamphetamine users, Rodriguez said. The thieves are typically desperate, risking their lives in many circumstances to cut live power lines in windmills.

"It's a gutsy move," he said. "You could easily end up getting killed."

And metal theft is difficult to prevent, Rodriguez said, noting that most thefts occur under the cover of darkness. Plus, he acknowledged, crimes against people take priority over crimes against property.

It's a problem that will continue to get worse as long as copper prices keep increasing, Sarkissian said.

The price hikes are widely attributed to heavy demand from fast-growing Asian economies. An Aaron's Metal Co. of Oakland, an employee who asked not to be identified said at least 70 percent of the copper he sells goes to China.

"We're not the only utility dealing with metal theft," Sarkissian said. "Utility companies around the nation are dealing with similar issues."

Rodriguez admitted to frustration with a legal system that hasn't adapted to metal thieves. He said prosecutors are limited to grand theft charges for the value of the metal, which doesn't factor in property damage and lost revenue that power companies and farmers experience when their equipment is broken.

State lawmakers' unwillingness to take action has frustrated law enforcement officials, too, Rodriguez said.

In 2007, state lawmakers rejected a bipartisan metal theft bill co-authored by Assembly members Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, and Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, that would have regulated the way recyclers pay customers for scrap metal.

"I'm not sure how we're going to solve this," Rodriguez said. "It's one of those problems that's not going to go away right away."

Reach Gideon Rubin at 510-293-2469 or grubin@bayareanewsgroup.com.