Thieves stealing copper wire in streetlighting across the streets of Los Angeles costs the city millions of dollars a year and plunges neighborhoods into darkness, while Mayor Karen Bass has proven herself powerless to stop it.
Does she advocate for beefing up law enforcement and criminal penalties? No, instead she’s pushed for solar lighting and a 120 percent increase in property owners’ streetlighting assessment. Get real.
It’s this kind of thinking that has California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt at or near the top of their respective polls, with both having a legitimate chance at winning. Such a scenario has not been seen on the Left Coast in decades.
Karen Bass turned Los Angeles into a lawless mess.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 18, 2026
And her idea to address the copper wire theft isn’t to arrest the thieves, it’s installing solar lights so the streets of LA aren’t dark for the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/jDHL67vJ3a
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has a radical solution, though: give us guns.
The Los Angeles agency in charge of the city’s electricity wants to create its own armed police force to combat the epidemic of thieves stealing valuable copper wire from streetlights.
The LA Department of Water and Power made the request in a letter sent to the City Council, pointing out that the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles airports have their own police authorities.
Karen Basura has given up on going after copper thieves, and is installing solar powered lights. That’s fine. But that doesn’t fix the problem. HP and AT&T had $87M in copper wire theft losses in ONE year, in South LA, alone. We need the heavy metals task force to crack down,… https://t.co/1kubJ8FasG
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) March 26, 2026
Karen Basura [Pratt’s nickname for the ineffective mayor] has given up on going after copper thieves, and is installing solar powered lights. That’s fine. But that doesn’t fix the problem. HP and AT&T had $87M in copper wire theft losses in ONE year, in South LA, alone. We need the heavy metals task force to crack down, immediately.
I wonder what they’d call the proposed department… the LADWP… PD?
The LADWP already has security officers, but they are unarmed and unable to make arrests, leaving them at the mercy of the Los Angeles Police Department, which is already woefully understaffed and famously slow to respond to calls. After decades of Democrat rule in the state and the city, the LAPD has its lowest sworn personnel number in 25 years.
Yet Bass thinks you should vote for more of the same. We know who she’s beholden to, and it's not the residents of Tinseltown. It’s the unions:
Energized to be out today with SEIU 721 members backing our campaign. LA’s workers built this city, I’ll never stop fighting for them. pic.twitter.com/rlC5eB4aeA
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) May 31, 2026
MORE: Karen Bass' Second-Term Pitch Is a Full-Blown Festival of Fail VIP
Ya Think?! Karen Bass Accuses Spencer Pratt of Tapping Into 'A General Sense' of Anger
The proposed department would need approval from the voters and the state legislature, and it would cost millions. While I like the concept, I want to know why city leaders shot this entrepreneur’s idea down:
🚨LOS ANGELES REJECTS CHEAP DEVICE TO CURB STREET LIGHT COPPER THEFT
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) April 30, 2026
Copper wire theft has been knocking out streetlights across Los Angeles and leaving neighborhoods in the dark.
Entrepreneur Mark James of End Metal Theft proposed a $300 locking cover system, but city… pic.twitter.com/oWCRG9NxWg
🚨LOS ANGELES REJECTS CHEAP DEVICE TO CURB STREET LIGHT COPPER THEFT
Copper wire theft has been knocking out streetlights across Los Angeles and leaving neighborhoods in the dark.
Entrepreneur Mark James of End Metal Theft proposed a $300 locking cover system, but city officials opted to focus on solar streetlights costing up to $6,000 each.
Critics say the decision raises costs while theft continues to damage infrastructure and drain millions in repair spending.
The mayoral and gubernatorial primaries end on Tuesday, and we’ll see if the California electorate keeps on voting for more failure, or if people are finally waking up to the reality that managed Democratic decline is no fun. In the meantime, your friendly local power agency official may just end up packing heat.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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