Sky-high metals prices combined with the weak U.S. economy in recent years have led brazen thieves to strip copper wire out of vacant homes, swipe stainless-steel beer kegs from bars and even make off with manhole covers, street lights and parts of fire hydrants.
Topped with rolls of barbed wire, it doubles up in places to form both an inner and an outer perimeter, with a strip of concrete in between for guards to patrol along.