Another way of dealing with the problem is to address chronic unemployment. It won't stop the outright criminal element but it will stop those that are just desperate. I note that someone in this thread has already mentioned that it was a big problem in the great depression. Disenfranchised people have nothing to lose.
For what it's worth, we don't seem to have much of a problem here. In the rail yard here there are piles of rails, plates and spikes sitting there. The yard is unfenced and there is an access track from a public road yet nothing disappears.
For what it's worth, we don't seem to have much of a problem here. In the rail yard here there are piles of rails, plates and spikes sitting there. The yard is unfenced and there is an access track from a public road yet nothing disappears.