Police call it a crime of convenience — quick and easy for those with criminal minds and the right tools.
The theft of catalytic converters from vehicles is not new, but some areas of the country, including several local municipalities, are seeing a surge in the crime.
“There has been an uptick in this county,” Warrington police Sgt. Ken Hawthorn said. “We’re probably at a dozen.”
Four vehicles at the Westminster Apartments in Warrington had their catalytic converters stolen Sept. 6, police said. A witness reported hearing noises around 4:30 a.m. but did not see anyone, and a vehicle was seen in the parking lot with its headlights on.
“The owners of the vehicles don’t know until they start the car,” Hawthorn said.
An arrest has not yet been made, but there are “ongoing investigations working with different departments,”
he said.
In nearby Horsham, seven catalytic converter thefts have been reported this year, most at night, Horsham police Sgt. Adam Dunning said. Six were at businesses, one on a residential street, he said.
Toyota Prius, Honda Element, certain pickup trucks and SUVs are among vehicles targeted the most, according to BeenVerified.com, which reports 25,969 catalytic converter thefts from January through May of this year, an 80 percent increase over 14,433 in 2020. In Pennsylvania, the percentage change in converter thefts was up 147.5% from 2019 to 2020 and up 46.5 % in the first five months of this year.
A catalytic converter, which converts environmentally hazardous exhaust into less harmful gasses, contains platinum, palladium or rhodium, which have increased in value significantly in recent years, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Recyclers typically pay $50 to $250 per converter, the bureau says, but it
can cost the vehicle owner from $1,000 to $3,000 to replace.
The converter is stolen by sliding under the vehicle and sawing it out of the exhaust system.
“It seems to be a crime that’s always there,” Cheltenham police Lt. Andrew Snyder said. “We get rashes of them. We had instances in the past and it died out a bit. Now it’s happening again.
“We had maybe 25 in the last couple of months.
“It’s a real opportunistic crime,” he said. “They see a car in a dimly lit area. If they think they can get away with it, they will do it. It only takes a minute to steal it.”
Snyder suggested vehicle owners park in well-lit areas near other vehicles.
“They have to get under the vehicle,” he said. “If it’s parked next to someone it’s harder.
“There’s not much else you can do. Make yourself not a good target.”
There are some commercial devices on the market to protect the converters, ranging from a couple hundred to a thousand dollars, Snyder said.
“We’re trying our best to let people know,” he said. “We put it on our Facebook page to advertise when we get a number of them.”
According to the Abington police Facebook page, dozens of catalytic converter thefts have been reported since the beginning of 2021. Following an investigation of a catalytic converter theft from a vehicle in the Abington-Jefferson Hospital Zipley garage in August, a suspect, Timothy Clarke, 46, of Levittown, was arrested and charged with felony theft and criminal mischief.
In Upper Dublin, about 10 catalytic converter thefts have been reported this year, Sgt. Andrew Lavenberg said.
“They have become a more frequent crime in the region and in Upper Dublin,” he said.
Both passenger cars and commercial trucks have been targeted on both residential and business properties,
he said, and most have occurred overnight.
“We continue to actively investigate these cases,” Lavenberg said. “As always we encourage community members to immediately report suspicious activity to the police.”
“Everywhere has been getting hit. It’s the new, easy crime,” Springfield police Detective Stephen Craig said. “Awhile back several school busses had their catalytic converters stolen.”
Some have been taken in front of residences, some from the North Hills Country Club lot, Craig said, noting they’re usually taken from vehicles parked for a while.
“It’s very loud when they’re taking them off,” Craig said. “Sometimes they will pull up and blast a car radio” to
muffle the noise.
“Items of value can be taken to a scrap yard,” he said. “Once the value goes down, we will stop seeing it,” like the theft of copper downspouts in the past when the price of copper was up.
“We always tell people, ‘if you see something out of the ordinary, you should call’ the police.”
Suggestions offered on the BeenVerified website include: installing a catalytic converter anti-theft device on the vehicle; when possible, park in a locked garage; park in a well-lit area or install motion-activated lights and security cameras; in public garages and lots, park near the front of the building entrance or other areas where pedestrian traffic is high; engrave the vehicle VIN and phone number on the converter.