ATLANTA , Georgia ( CNN ) -- When Atlanta police officers Bryan Ernest and Bernatt Collins get a burglary call , they know that the house they walk into will probably be stripped , right down to the materials inside the walls . Calls to Atlanta , Georgia , police are increasing for vacant homes ransacked by burglars . They are part of a special burglary detail formed to watch the increasing number of vacant houses resulting from unpaid mortgages . Drawing their guns , the officers approach an empty house and shout `` Atlanta police ! '' before entering . It 's a burglary call , and they have to expect the worst . But the officers usually get to a home long after the thief has gone , leaving Sheetrock hanging from the walls like shredded cardboard , giant holes in the ceilings and exposed wiring minus its valuable copper parts . Watch foreclosed homes gutted by thieves » . `` This is all copper that they are taking out down the walls , '' Ernest said . `` You can see where the outlets were , any bit of copper they take . '' The Atlanta Police Department does n't know how many homes have been hit . The police are not keeping records that differentiate between thieves who steal from occupied homes and those who rip out copper and appliances from vacant houses , many of them the result of the nation 's foreclosure crisis . See foreclosures across the country » . Across the country , law enforcement officials report that more empty houses are being burglarized . Developers are unable to sell newly built homes , and landlords have trouble renting properties . Atlanta is one of the few police departments that has formed a special vacant home burglary team . Rising copper prices are driving some of the thievery , but that 's not all the burglars are taking . Wanda Vaughn and her mother , Vera , operate a contracting service . Banks and homeowners hire them to fix what 's been broken and/or replace stolen items after a thief strikes . Sometimes they replace everything in a home and board it up to prevent more burglaries . Wanda Vaughn has seen water heaters ripped out and dumped on hardwood floors and carpet . `` This has to be torn out and replaced , '' she said while walking through a burglarized house in Atlanta . `` The baseboards have to be torn out because of mold on all the carpet padding and subflooring . '' Estimated damage : between $ 15,000 and $ 20,000 for only about $ 40 worth of copper . `` They took the stove , the refrigerator , the cabinets , everything , including the kitchen sink ! '' Vaughn said . Although some areas Ernest and Collins have patrolled over the past year are areas typically targeted by criminals , the burglaries are becoming more prevalent in affluent neighborhoods . `` The neighbors have been calling and saying they are hearing banging or seeing a vehicle that 's parked at a house that 's supposed to be vacant , '' Ernest said . Some thieves carry book bags full of copper . Others push baby carriages and shopping carts full of stripped building materials . `` Whatever they can push or pull to get this stuff out , they use , '' Collins said . County and city code enforcement departments often have difficulty locating homeowners . Some live out of town , and others have abandoned the houses after being unable to make mortgage payments , police said . House investor Bob Forbes said it 's a constant battle when a home he owns is burglarized . Forbes usually installs steel cages around the air conditioning units outside the houses , but thieves take the air conditioner apart and pull the smaller pieces through the cage , leaving an empty concrete slab and padlock dangling off the bars of the cage . `` In one house , I betcha I replaced the air conditioning condensers three times , and they kept coming back , '' he said . `` If you do n't have somebody in the house , it 's going to happen . In one house that was about to close escrow , the plumbing was perfect . I came in the next day , and the plumbing , including the toilets , was gone ! ''
Vacant homes across the country are being burglarized at a high rate . Many homes have been left empty by homeowners who can not rent them . Atlanta Police Department has special team to fight the special kind of burglary . Materials like copper are being stripped from the buildings and sold by thieves .