Copper Theft Now Vs. ~10 Years Ago

I am curious what everyone thinks about the level of copper theft nowadays versus, say, ten years ago. I remember it seemed like you were always hearing about people climbing electrical poles and getting killed. Is this just a matter of the media moving on to a different subject because they got sick of talking about copper theft?

Another item relative to this subject has to do with turning in bare bright copper. Some places in certain states refused to accept bare bright copper from you at one time unless you had a business license. Do you feel like that end of it is still strictly enforced or are the scrap yards looking the other way if they feel you are an honest person?

This was just 4 moths ago , very end of 2017
Copper thieves electrocuted in Detroit mishap | The Sacramento Bee

There will always be copper thieves in one form or another. I think the introduction of pex and more widespread of pvc for plumbing has helped reduce jobsite/new home theft. But majority of homes still have copper. The media loves to hyper focus on certain topics, as you can imagine, copper theft is low on the list at the moment. Just like shark attacks, once someone gets killed they report every sighting and bite for months after.

i work for an electric utility, and there is still plenty of theft. It follows the price of scrap. We have had very little the last few years, while copper was down, but are seeing more again lately since the price has rebounded. Also, most utilities are replacing copper with aluminum wherever feasible, so over time, there is less out there to steal.