Copper theft and impact on property value

[Steve Gjerdingen]

The city where I live in is currently experiencing unprecedented copper theft.  Last year alone (2023) the city spent almost a million dollars on street light repairs (tripled from where it was at in 2021.  At this point they have no plans to resolve this issue other than increase taxes and replace wiring.  All the parks near me are dark at night along with the parkways.  The streets themselves are starting to see this issue more often as well.  They already have the lights on 24/7 (which looks bad). Now, some blocks immediately adjacent to me are dark at night as well. 

Other than this, crime has not been super noticeable in my area.  People are stealing Kias left and right, but I'm told that is an issue all over the country.  

I have 2 questions related to this:
-How much will this negatively impact property values over time?   
-Is any area of the metro going to be immune to this, or can I expect this to get worse over time if its already happening within the core city?  It's easy for someone to say 'just pick up and move' but intentionality about 'where' is important with that statement. It would make no sense to move for this reason but then experience this same problem elsewhere.