The copper thief confessed to hitting homes all over town. That meant Detective Joseph Auroras investigation was just beginning.

By the time Aurora finished his investigation months later, police arrested two men in connection with 13 separate thefts of copper pipes from vacant houses. Reported copper thefts had plunged in New Haven. And stayed that way.

The TV version of this case would have wrapped up last July 31, the day police picked up a pair of men for breaking down the door of a vacant city-owned home on Clifton Street in Fair Haven Heights and making off with copper pipes. It was one of dozens of reported copper thefts from abandoned homes. The crime was on the rise thanks to a rise in copper prices, easy accessibility to vacant homes across town, and the fact that stolen copper, which doesnt bear serial numbers, is difficult to trace. Owners of vacant properties sometimes report the thefts to insurance companies without bothering to tell the police too, meaning that while they may recover their losses, another victim is more likely to get hit.

The day of the arrest Aurora interviewed the two men. One of the men admitted to carrying out 19 such thefts over four and a half months. He offered as many details about the jobs as he could remember.

But in real life, that was not enough to make a case. Aurora now had homework to do lots of it. Checking databases, Google Earth. Visiting houses. Confirming details, acquiring evidence. It would take months. He got the job done, and has now obtained the last of 26 warrants, 13 for each suspect.

The 33-year-old detective, who joined the department eight years ago, has earned a reputation in the police departments robbery and burglary division for following trails, sticking with cases, and making them stick.

The city was fielding 10 to 11 copper-theft complaints a week before Aurora cracked the case, according to his supervisor, Sgt. Manmeet Colon. Now its at about two or three.

She called Aurora a very passionate and very diligent investigator. He goes out to the pawn shops and scrap yards. They know him on a first-name basis. He always follows up.

Auroras pawn shop sleuthing solved a second, unrelated case that led to an arrest Monday. A former employee of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) was charged with first-degree larceny for allegedly swiping tens of thousands of dollars of Dell computer gear from the groups 900 Chapel St. offices. Aurora tracked down and recovered $48,662 worth of the equipment. (More about that later in this story.

That case and the copper case were all about follow-up, demonstrating how the tedious, less glamorous aspects of detective work can make the difference.

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Cop Cans Crooks Copper Caper

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