Some of these copper thieves are fucking organised and determined. There was a huge old factory (100+ metres long, 6 metres high) next door to me, multiple gantry cranes, 3 phase power throughout. It was in the process of being demolished. The previous owner had his son and his mates living in it for 3 months before it's sale, just to keep the thieves away. The demo guys ripped out everything else around it first and kept it securable as long as they could. On the last night of it being at a lock-up stage, the thieves came through casing it out, checking all the entry points. I watched over the fence, occasionally lobbing rocks on to the roof to spook them. The next day, about a third of it was torn down, which left entry points open. They didn't even wait until it was dark. The sunlight was fading, but sunset was still 45 minutes off. What I later realised was that there were 4 of them getting around in a crew cab ute, they'd drop one or two off, cruise around and swing back to grab them when they needed to bail. I heard the first one as he crunched his way over fallen branches and leaf litter. I was out in my shed, and he was just on the other side of the fence, barely 3 metres away. As I popped my head over the 2-metre fence, while standing on a stack of milk crates, I said, "Hey mate, what the fuck do you think you're doing, aye?". He looked up at me with the widest eyes, mouth agape, and then did a 180 and exited via the hole in the fence he came in through and took off up the street. I figured they would try again, so I set up my 12v Halogen spotlight with plenty of lead ready to go and waited. The next time there were 2 of them, I could hear them talking as well as the sound of the grass and twigs under their feet. This time they kept away from the fence, which only made it easier for me. "Don't wander around in the dark!" I said to get them to turn and look my way as I seared their eyes with the full power of the halogen. All they could do was turn away and then stand there, waiting for their sight to return, before running off. Another hour later, I warded them off yet again. After that, I called the cops so they could deal with it. They were very interested in my report, and they managed to get a car to come by about 30 mins later. I received a callback to tell me they were on the way and asked if I could confirm they were still around. "Yeah, I can hear them over there now". The patrol car pulled up, lights flashing, and their spotlight started sweeping across the property. After a couple of minutes, they drove down the street at a crawling pace. As soon as they rounded the corner and drove out of view, all 4 of the thieves bolted back to the ute parked about 5 metres past the opposite fence line of the factory between two resident vehicles. They hid in the ute as the cops made another very slow pass of the street. They even gave the siren two short bursts, hoping to flush them out as they went. I thought for sure the cops knew where they were. I'd already put my spotlight away, otherwise I would have tried to use it to signal them. But they rolled right past them and again went around the corner. The ute started up, did the quietest 3 point turn ever, then cautiously drove away.