Thieves targeting catalytic converters for their precious medals -particularly on Toyota vehicles- seem to strike at the SCV every now and then:
“We’ve had several people in the last little while report their catalytic converters stolen,” sheriff’s Sgt. James Anderson said Tuesday.
“It does seem to be the trend right now.”
The smog-reducing devices are often made with small portions of precious metals, including platinum, palladium and rhodium, which thieves cash in for between $100 and $150 a converter.
In 2007, COC warned students that thieves had stolen catalytic converters off student cars in the massive COC parking lot. Then in 2008, a rash of thefts was reported again, with the Long Beach Telegram reporting that it had become a nationwide trend. Now the thieves are targeting commuters who leave their cars in park and ride lots, or at the mall.
It’s become such a problem that the market has devised a solution: theft-proof your catalytic converter for about $100:
If your career path includes precious metal thievery, I have to think the payout is bigger and the risk is smaller for catalytic converter thieves than copper wire thieves, the other group of thieves who occasionally target the SCV (and sometimes get electrocuted in the process).
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