New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘It’s a huge problem’
State law tries to make catalytic converter thefts less profitable
After a witness to a brazen daytime theft in Milford was attacked last week, Connecticut lawmakers and insurers are counting on a newly signed law to quickly make stealing catalytic converters less profitable and more of a hassle to sell.
“The reason this is getting dangerous is because it’s lucrative,” said Eric George, president of the Insurance Association of Connecticut who supported the legislation, which makes it more difficult to make a
profit from the sale of stolen catalytic converters.
Connecticut lawmakers hope the law, which takes effect July 1, dries up the source of revenue for catalytic converter thieves by making them harder to sell, said state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chair of the Public Safety and Security Committee where the legislation originated.
“It’s a huge problem, not just in Connecticut, but nationally because of all of the types of metals used in catalytic converters,” Osten said. “People are stealing them and making a boatload of money. It’s one of the biggest crimes we were having. It’s costing commercial outfits with fleets an immense amount of money.”
But reducing the number of thefts may not be as easy as it sounds, police said.
“You can still sell them online,” said Watertown Detective Mark Conway, whose department investigated the theft of 15 catalytic converters from Easterseals vans earlier this month. “I’m hoping it’s a help, but what this is doing is regulating honest scrap yards. Sales online don’t have the same regulations.”
The number of catalytic converter thefts reported nationally to insurance companies soared in 2020 to 14,443, up from
3,389 in 2019 and 1,298 in 2018, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which tallies and analyzes insurance claims related to crime. That's a 424 percent increase in one year, the NICB said.
The increase in thefts stem from simple economics, George and Osten said.
“They can do it in under a minute and they can do dozens and dozens in a short period of time,” George said.
Thieves are getting between $50 and $250 per stolen catalytic converter because the value of the precious metals within the part has increased in recent years, George said.
A catalytic converter is a device that looks like a small muffler along with the exhaust system that is designed to convert the engine's environmentally hazardous exhaust into less harmful gasses, the NICB said in a March 2021 report announcing the latest statistics.
The value of the platinum, palladium or rhodium used in the parts has “skyrocketed” in recent years, the organization said.
“As of December 2020, rhodium was valued at $14,500 per ounce, palladium at $2,336 per ounce and platinum going for $1,061 per ounce,” the report said.
“As the value of the precious metals contained within the catalytic converters continues to increase, so do the number of thefts of these devices,” the NICB said. “There is a clear connection between times of crisis, limited resources and disruption of the supply chain that drives investors toward these precious metals.”
George supported the passage of the Connecticut law, which lawmakers say hits thieves in the pocketbook by prohibiting scrap and recycling dealers from buying more than one catalytic converter per day per individual. The seller can no longer receive cash for the transaction, only a check and identification and a paper trail is required for every sale.
“It's makes the process unattractive,” George said. “There's money in it for them, but rather than slapping on stiffer penalties, this is making it tougher for them to unload it. If it becomes tougher, we're hoping to see a downward trend pretty quickly.”
Relief can't come fast enough for victims and police, Conway said. Milford police are still looking for the man they said cut a bystander with a “Sawzall” last week after the witness took photos of the thief stealing a catalytic converter.
Conway's department investigated a spree of catalytic converter thefts that took place in the early-morning hours of May 10 at the Easter Seals location in Watertown. The nonprofit provides vocational programs and industrial and business services to those with disabilities, according to the organization's website.
The thieves stole 15 catalytic converters, making the Easter Seals fleet inoperable in the short term. Conway believes it will cost the nonprofit about $30,000 between parts, labor and vehicle rentals.
“It's pretty prevalent in our town,” said Conway, who estimates that thieves hit several vehicles at least twice a month causing thousands of dollars of damage.
Conway said surveillance videos have shown that police have even checked the lots when the thefts have been occurring.
“They have lookouts who let them know the police are here,” Conway said. “They duck down and you can't even see them.”
Osten compared the new law with similar legislation that helped stem copper and other metal thefts by requiring identification and photos of the seller to make it easier to track if they were connected with a crime.
“That has worked to decrease thefts and it's worked to hold people accountable,” Osten said. “We think our bill will be a model for surrounding states. We've done a lot of work relative to this. It's one more tool in the tool box. We'll start with this and if we have to do more, we will. As far as I'm concerned, this was one of the most important bills we did this year.”
But Conway remains “cautiously optimistic” about the law's ability to decrease the thefts.
“We're hopeful that it makes them harder to resell,” Conway said. “I'm cautiously optimistic, but I know there are plenty of non-reputable scrap dealers, or they can go out of state or online. These are not crimes of opportunity. They are planned out, and usually when there are one, there are multiple thefts. This is a planned illegal business and not every dealer is reputable.”