Theft of catalytic converter prompts warning from police
ALAMEDA >> Police are strongly advising residents to report suspicious incidents rather than engage suspects after a catalytic converter theft ended at gunpoint late last week, authorities said Monday.
Around 4:20 a. m. Friday, a resident in the 1300 block of Court Street near Encinal Avenue saw two men stealing his vehicle’s catalytic converter. When he approached the men, one acting as a lookout pulled a firearm on the resident. Moments later, the men put the converter in a getaway vehicle and drove off.
Police recovered surveillance camera footage of the incident and shared it on social media Monday, including a warning to residents that Friday’s incident was the second theft- turned- robbery in the last two weeks.
“The Alameda Police Department is discouraging confrontations during any in-progress property crime,” police said in part. “Any crime, big or small, can quickly escalate, potentially compromising your safety and/or the safety of others.”
Instead of conf rontation, residents were asked to call police during crimes, give dispatchers information including suspect and vehicle descriptions, license plate numbers, locations and directions of flight, and to take photos or film incidents from safe distances for evidence. Residents with mobile phones should call police first before taking pictures, police said.
A check of city police logs found at least 10 other catalytic converter theft cases since Sept. 29. In the first of two thefts that day, investigators learned a suspect cut metal strips linking a fence to a pole, peeling back a parking lot fence at the Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., before stealing a catalytic converter from a city- owned vehicle.
In another incident, police arrived on Blanding Avenue soon after 2 p. m. Oct. 1 and found a man taking a catalytic converter from a vehicle. When questioned, police said the man gave a false identity but soon identified him as a probationer. The man, identified as Jarell Potter, 33, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft, as well as false identification and probation violation.