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Attachment <br />Pat Trudgeon <br />From:Erika Scheider <br />Sent:Monday, January 18, 2021 3:12 PM <br />To:Pat Trudgeon <br />Subject:Re: Catalytic Convertor thefts <br />Thispastyear,wehaveseenaspikeincatalyticconverterthefts.Weareworkingonpullingsomenumbers <br />andishouldbeabletogetyouthosetomorrow. <br />TheyareextremelyeasytostealAllathiefneedsisasawandjack.Removingthecatalyticconverteronly <br />takesafewminutes.Inthepast,weusuallysawthesetheftsoccurovernight,butthislastyear,wehave <br />seentheftsduringalltimesofthedayandnight. <br />Thecatalyticconvertershaveahighresalevalueandareoftensoldtoscrapmetaldealers.Althoughthe <br />suspectsellingthecatalyticconvertermayonlygetbetween$100$200,thecostoftherepairsisoften <br />between$1000$2000. <br />Alsoproblematicisthecatalyticconverterslackanyidentifyingmarks,soevenwhenwecomeacross <br />someonewhopossessessuspectedstolenones,itisnexttoimpossibletodeterminewhereitwasstolenfrom. <br />Lawenforcementsupportstheproposedlegislationpreventingscrapmetaldealersfrombuyingcatalytic <br />convertersotherthanfromautorepairorrecyclingbusinesses.Individualssellingcatalyticconverterswould <br />needtoprovideproofoftheirownershipofthevehicle.Thisalsoisoneofthelegislativeprioritiesforthe <br />MinnesotaChief'sofPoliceAssociation. <br />Inaperfectworld,carmanufactureswouldmakethemmoredifficulttostealandtheywouldcontain <br />eserialnumbersareactuallytracked).Lotsof <br />identifyingserialnumbers(althoughthenyougetintohowthos <br />stolenpropertyhasserialnumbers,butoftenfolksdonothavethatinformationwhentheyfilepolicereports, <br />soIdon'tknowhowmuchthatwouldhelpinmostcases. <br />Herearesomegoodresources: <br />https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/01/10/driversbewarecatalyticconvertersthievestargetinstpaul <br />https://minnesotareformer.com/2020/09/22/screeeeeechwhatsthatsounditsyourcatalyticconverter <br />beingstolenblamethepandemic/ <br />https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35059184/catalyticconvertertheftcarsupwhy/ <br />https://senatedfl.mn/preventingcatalyticconvertertheft/ <br />HerewasapostCoreyputoutonNextDoorearlierthisyear: <br />1 <br /> <br />