SOUTH BEND — A new crack-down is now underway in South Bend, as city leaders began re-examining "quality of life" ordinances. First up: how to more effectively crack down on illegal scrapping.

It's been eight months since a hidden camera investigation by WSBT and the South Bend Tribune showed several South Bend scrap yards failing to follow a recent ordinance aimed at stopping the dramatic rise
in scrap metal thefts across the area.

South Bend Police have estimated that several million dollars worth of scrap metal have been stolen. In many cases, serious damage to businesses and homes has been left behind.

At the time, a number of city leaders voiced concerns about what our investigation showed, and began calling for the ordinance to be tightened. Now, that new crack-down is underway.

The South Bend Common Council's Health and Public Safety Committee met Wednesday to begin reviewing the ordinance, hoping to find out why it wasn't working as intended in some cases.

They began by talking about what our undercover footage showed. Some scrap yards failed to adhere to the five requirements for scrap metal purchase.

Under the ordinance, city scrap yards must ask the seller where the item came from, and install video surveillance that captures both the seller's image and their vehicle's license plate. They also must make a copy of the seller's driver's license or Photo ID, and copy the seller's thumbprint.

Last year, scrap yards were also asked not to buy bronze or copper cemetery vases after hundreds of them were stolen from local cemeteries. While that stipulation was not included in the ordinance, city code specifies that it is illegal to accept or purchase stolen items.

After viewing the results of our hidden camera investigation, some council members said they couldn't sit by and do nothing.

"It's like a slap in the face of the council," said Common Council member and South Bend Police Officer Derek Dieter after viewing the evidence last year. ""If there have been violations and we can prove it, we need to go after these people."

Eight months later, some are singing the same tune.

"We're going to hold them accountable," said Health and Public Safety Chair Karen White.

But not all.

Common Council Attorney Kathy Cekanski-Ferrand cited a recent national study from the U.S. Department of Energy that lists Ohio and California as the top two states for scrap metal thefts. But Indiana is at the top of the second tier, meaning Hoosiers see more scrap metals thefts than almost anywhere else in the nation.

Even so, she said the study listed South Bend as a bright spot in the fight against the thefts. The city is one of only two cited for proactive steps like thumb-printing and the city's recent "scrap metal theft alert system," which circulates emails among scrap metal yards and dealers when high profile metal thefts occur.

"South Bend is a leader in this regard," she told the committee.

Some said the accolades weren't enough if the ordinance wasn't preventing all stolen items from slipping through the cracks. So, they began searching for ways to improve it.

They quickly learned the answers wouldn't be simple.

"Some of the procedures need to be cleaned up a little bit and some clarifications need to be made," said South Bend Business Licensing Auditor Charles Clark.

Clark says the problems may lie with the city as much as the scrap yards.

In 2007, his office approved 14 scrap metal yard licenses. All but two of those scrap yards are still operating. But three new yards have applied for licenses this year, bringing the total applications in 2008 to 15.

Six months into the year, city inspectors have only been able to renew a little more than a third of those applications because of heavy inspection workloads. In the meantime, the other nine yards are operating under "assumed extension," without inspections or enforcement from South Bend Police or City Code Enforcement.

White says that has to change.

"We've worked out a grid, so we can begin to track the ordinance in terms of assignments and in terms of enforcement, to begin to identify those gaps," she said. "There are some gaps in term of communication and making sure that every [city] department is part of the loop, understanding their assignments and their roles. We're looking at the ordinance to really work with the various businesses so that time-line can be much shorter."

Our hidden camera investigation found several violations at U.S. Scrap last year, including the lack of required thumb-prints. U.S. Scrap also agreed to buy one of the cemetery vases.

Today, U.S. Scrap is under new management as Acme U.S. Scrap. New manager Blair Melvin didn't want to talk about the proposed changes with WSBT on camera, but said he's added new security cameras and has hired South Bend Police to patrol his yard since taking over two months ago.

Scrap yard manager at Gertrude Street Metal Recycling Gary Mentag didn't want to comment on the proposed changes either. But he did say the city hasn't found any violations at his yard since our investigation.

Our hidden cameras captured Gertrude Street workers buying a box of six cemetery vases last year.

Despite our investigation showing violations at three separate scrap yards on one day in 2007, the city only handed out two citations for violations of the ordinance all year long. One went to Sturgis South Bend Scrap and Processing, which has since shut down its South Bend operation. The other was issued to Indiana Auto Salvage, which has not its scrapping license renewed so far in 2008.

Last year, Indiana Auto owner Paul Shaffer, who owns a similar operation in Portage, IN, told WSBT he planned to stop buying small scrap metal because it was only a small part of his business and the new ordinance was "a hassle."

Each business was fined $2,500.

City records also show there haven't been any violations cited at a single scrap yard anywhere in the city so far in 2008.

Even so, White says scrap metal thefts are continuing across the area, though, at a lower rate than they were. That's why the council's goal this year is to send a clear message to both scrap yards and scrap thieves.

"The bar has been raised, and we will ensure that it's going to be enforced," she said.

Among the proposed changes?

Higher fines for violations, increased inspection fees, and new city code enforcement and fire department inspectors to speed up the licensing process.

Health and Public Safety Committee members will talk more about them next month along with three other "quality of life" ordinances. They include the city's graffiti ordinance, noise ordinance, and lawn parking ordinance that restricts parking for Notre Dame home football games.

Each ordinance will be reviewed in order on the third Wednesday of each month at 3:30 p.m. The lawn parking ordinance will be discussed on July 16. The noise ordinance will be discussed on August 20. And the graffiti ordinance will be discussed on September 17.

All three meetings are open to the public.