The Antelope Valley Times

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DA Gascón wants auto makers to help address rise in catalytic converter thefts

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón Monday called on auto manufacturers to work with him to develop solutions to address the rise in thefts of catalytic converters across the county and throughout the nation.

“Catalytic converters are quick and easy to steal, and thieves can quickly turn them into cash,” Gascón said in a statement. “In addition, the lack of unique identifiers makes it virtually impossible to prove in court that a particular catalytic converter was stolen.”

Catalytic converters — which are used to turn hazardous exhaust from a vehicle into less harmful gases — are made of highly valuable metals such as platinum, rhodium and palladium and can fetch up to $1,200 each, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

California is among the top five states for catalytic converter thefts, and there has been a sharp rise in the thefts nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Gascón urged auto manufacturers to join him in an effort to “develop creative and inexpensive solutions to substantially prevent these crimes from occurring and reduce the likelihood of victimization in Los Angeles County and the rest of the nation.”

The district attorney has reached out to four major automobile manufacturers, with only the Torrance-based Honda Motor Co. Ltd. expressing interest so far in exploring possible solutions, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

While the top prosecutor in San Francisco, Gascón led a similar effort to reduce thefts of cell phones and sponsored legislation making California the first state to require kill switches on cell phones that make the devices inoperable if they are stolen.

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66 comments for "DA Gascón wants auto makers to help address rise in catalytic converter thefts"

  2. Gascon’s idea is much better than Wreck’s suggestion to deal with the homeless by shooting them with an illegally carried gun if they try to rob you.

    I never thought I’d give a compliment to Gascon, but when you put him up against Wrecks, it is possible.

  3. Start busting the guys that are buying the stolen converters, also the recycling places that are winking and nodding when they’re brought in for the precious metals. If the thieves can’t get the money they will move on to something else they can steal, maybe the whole care, vin number and all.

  4. There are solutions! But consumers don’t want to pay for it… All you need to do is go to a muffler shop and they can devise something for you. Some auto manufacturers, Like Toyota, offer deterrent plates that can be added to some of their cars. If it’s that much of a problem, educate consumers to take measures instead of jumping at the mfgrs. Gascon has to go!

  5. I have learned that the same people in community are the same thieves we have been dealing with for years. We need more public awareness and harder laws to deter. But we also have new criminals we are dealing with, some Illegals that have to pay back the Cartels for crossing the border. Like recycling metal we need to monitor metal dealers and record names. I understand VIN #’s on them to prosecute in court is needed. Most stolen converters are quickly scraped out of the precious metals and melted fast. Both cities of Palmdale and Lancaster should do another round of RING Security Camers(bulk sale) to residents like before to help deter thievery in AV.

    • LOL…whatever you say Dr Zink. The credibility of the things you “learn” is, as always, unquestioned.

  6. There are buyers for stolen catalytic converters. Consumers, garages, recycling yards, etc. There are always buyers for stolen items, so just trying to stop thieves is an impossible task, even if everything is nailed down or welded.

    • Actually, gone in sixty seconds hit the answer pretty squarely. If you etch identifying marking into the body of the converter it is of no value to thieves. You just have to make it obvious enough that they will see it BEFORE they pull it out. Gascon is also on the right track. If manufacturers etched the VIN number in all original equipment catalytic converters this entire problem would just go away.

      • Although this would help, it is no cure-all and would not make the entire problem go away – not even close.

        What it would do to help, though, is to make a prosecutorial tool to make it easier to make those charges stick when they finally do catch a suspect.

        More preventative and field enforcement tools are needed in this one.

        • I was thinking about this while I was working.

          Being able to identify the stolen property severely impacts the buyers. A metal yard sees a guy come in once a week with a catalytic converter and they know he is stealing them, but they don’t care. Business is business. If that product can be readily identified as stolen property they can’t take it unless they are willing to face the risks (and there’s a lot of investment at stake for them) or they are willing to drop everything and prioritize elimination of the identification. So the VIN thing would very badly damage the market for this stolen good.

          But the really interesting thing that has come up is the insurance company angle.

          I have no way of finding facts, but I would really like to know how much of this is actual theft and how much is insurance fraud.

          Sure, someone who is boosting cars to part them out is gonna look at the catalytic converter as a profit center, but they are already boosting cars to part them out. I don’t see “yeah I boost a car, cut out the catalytic converter, and move on.” Are there people who wouldn’t be boosting cars, but then they thought “catalytic converter” and that extra profit put them over the top? Maybe.

          I do not see, at all, the idea of a thief just prowling the streets nabbing catalytic converters. I’ve known thieves, and thieves on their back under a parked car are making themselves way too vulnerable. That’s not happening. But what I CAN see happening is Joe Homeowner being hard up for some cash, pulling the car in the garage and yanking the cat to sell for cash, then landing the car back at the curb and calling the cops so his insurance company can replace it for him.

          And THAT dies immediately if the VIN is attached to the cat.

          • “I do not see, at all, the idea of a thief just prowling the streets nabbing catalytic converters. I’ve known thieves, and thieves on their back under a parked car are making themselves way too vulnerable, That’s not happening”

            Uhhh, this is exactly what is happening mostly, if not all of the time.
            I thought you were street Tim.

            SMH

          • LOL…sure “street” Sonya. I’m sure your expertise regarding crimes you can commit on your back far exceeds mine.

            Meanwhile, in the real world…

            My truck has way more ground clearance than most vehicles. I see absolutely no way that someone is gonna slide under there with a grinder, but out the catalytic converter, and slip away into the night. It’s patently absurd. Go ahead, take that as a challenge.

            If someone steals the truck first, sure, but this idea that there are vast hoards of grinder pavement slitherers out there armed with magically silenced grinders is just more of the nonsensical scare mongering that baton polishers are always up to.

          • Look into it more,
            You are completely wrong on this and you simply refuse to take the L.

            I’m he catalytic converters are stolen by folks who slide under the car and cut them out,
            Period.

          • Wow,
            He’s just gonna stick to it no matter what…

            Says a lot about ones character.

            While everybody else is reading it and facepalming, especially victims of this crime as there are many in the AV.

            The car is still there in the morning Tim,
            It’s just much louder.

          • Let me guess…you two have “seen this with your own eyes, happens every day on your block.”

            You two are such a pair…one makes up nonsense and the other swears to it.

            Meanwhile, actual facts…catalytic converter thefts have “skyrocketed” to 18,000 per year NATIONALLY. That’s 1,500 a month in the entire country. There are 287 MILLION cars in the country. That’s a six in a million event, monthly. This is what the dim bulb twins are talking about as “I know how this goes, I see it all the time.”

            And I’d still bet that a significant fraction of those are insurance fraud rather than actual thefts. It’s just too easy, and the actual theft is just too hard.

          • I disagree. All you need is a recycler that doesn’t care about the VIN being there. You should check out the posts on nextdoor.com related to this topic. This is a surging issue at least in the the AV. I can’t speak to other areas but wouldn’t surprise me that this is not local

          • Nonna, a recycling yard is a huge investment that returns a strong steady profit. The “bonus” from a handful of stolen catalytic converters passing through is a tiny sliver of that. It’s worth it if there is no risk, but any operator of such a yard that knowingly handles identifiable stolen goods would be a fool.

            In regards to social media tales on nextdoor,com…I’ll look into it, but I admit I am predisposed to doubt the credibility.

          • Near as I can tell the “surging issue” is mentioned exactly once on nextdoor, and in that once even the guy who reported it acknowledged it as “a rare thing.” That one case was a motor home, and since motor homes are typically parked up in some out of the way side yard that seems at least plausible…but is still just as easily an insurance play as an actual theft.

      • @dim Scott. Again your intellect is overrated . They put serial numbers on guns for the same reason. You just scratch them off, dur. Yes you would say gasheads idea is good becuase it’s useless like all of your ideas.

        • Have you checked the market for engine blocks with scratched off VIN numbers lately?

          Meanwhile, if you have a gun with a scratched off number for sale go on and contact the LASD and let them help you find a buyer. They will be happy to assist you.

  7. I’ll make the auto manufacture do my job cause I can’t do mine properly

    -gascon

    Impose stiff penalties for those caught stealing catalytic converters….
    Wala, problem solved.

    • LOL…sure. People who are gonna steal catalytic converters are lining up at law libraries researching the sentencing guidelines as we speak. When are you gonna get it through your skull that the whole “harsh penalties are effective deterrents” theory has been demonstrated as flat wrong? To keep on pushing for the same demonstrably failed ideas is just insane.

      • Tim Scott and William are the SAME person! Both are cowards that sit behind a computer screen and play games. Dont listen to anything thay say

        • Bingo!!! Tim is the quintessential annoying, bigoted, and entitled boomer. His whole life consists of writing miscellaneous rubbish on this pathetic site.

        • LOL…and you know this how exactly? Or are you just making stuff up? Okay, no need to answer.

      • Sure dude,
        We had the southern border on lock in 2016-2020

        Look at it now…

        It’s simple, enforcement discourages wrong doing.
        No enforcement/capitulation nets the opposite.

        Arguing otherwise is asinine.

        • LOL…so now the thieves have something to do with the border? Are you totally clueless?

          “Gosh amigo, I was gonna slip into the US and start stealing catalytic converters, but have you seen what they did with the sentencing?”

          “Oh, si! I was just reading US Code 18 down at the law library at the border and man that catalytic converter thing makes going to the US just not worth it.”

          “Those Basic Clowns really have it all figured out!”

      • Tim Scott is spinning the research to support his position by leaving out relevant facts.

        Research actually shows severity of punishment deters crime when the certainty of being caught and punished is high enough.

        This makes sense… If an offender does not expect to be caught, the severity of the punishment does not factor into any decisions.

        In combination, certainty of punishment and harsh penalties do in fact deter crime.

        Source –

        Do Criminal Laws Deter Crime?
        Deterrence Theory in Criminal
        Justice Policy: A Primer

        By Ben Johnson, Legislative
        Analyst MN State House
        January 2019

        • You read all of that and totally missed it, didn’t you? I suggest that you avoid public debates as you lack the necessary observational skills.

          “…when the certainty of being caught and punished is high enough.”

          “In combination, certainty of punishment…”

          Thank you for making the point, while still managing to completely ignore the entire debate.

          Harsh deterrence is NOT the key to better prevention of crime; certainty of apprehension IS. This has been known since before the creation of this very country.

        • Good thing you moved to Idaho. California is probably too competitive an environment for you.

          Nice shot Stinger, couldn’t have swatted that easy pitch any better myself.

          • Things are actually more competitive in Idaho than KKKalifornia. William, Tim Scott and Stingy are all the same person. He is a retired BOOMER that has nothing better to do all day then to spew nonsense on this site. While I am a ZOOMER eating Twinkies and drinking chocolate milk watching my neighbors.

          • LOL…and once again, you know this how?

            By the way, I lived in Idaho. Won’t slander the good folks of the town here by naming it, but the people like me that were there on assignment referred to it as Idiot Flats, so you can guess what I think of your claims about the competition there.

          • Tim Scott… typical response from you. When you can’t defend your position, attack the messenger. Pathetic…..

          • LOL…when exactly did you even challenge any position?

            You blathered about how I was wrong in saying that since criminals don’t intend or expect to be caught cranking up the harshness of sentencing makes no difference…and then posted a reference saying that without certainty of punishment cranking up the harshness of sentencing makes no difference. As Stinger pointed out, while you obviously have some axe to grind and are desperate to attack me and anything I say, you actually just reinforced my point.

            Then you spouted some nonsense about how three people you do not know that are a thousand miles away…are one person. You determined this how? Did a potato that looks like the Virgin Mary tell you? That kind of crazy flies in Idaho I know, but it doesn’t work here.

            So yes messenger, that gets you mocked. Maybe not in Idaho where the going is slow, but it sure does here so good thing for you that you moved.

          • Excuse me for interrupting this bickering fest but I lived in Coeur D’ Alene and Sandpoint Idaho, and I never encountered any idiots. I guess if you think you’re better than other people you encounter, than I can see why you would call Idaho “idiot flats.”

          • We were young, and the employer that stuck us in Idiot Flats was pretty intent on filling us with “you’re the best of the best” elitism. To be fair, it was a training program that was pretty hard to get into and still had an attrition rate of well over 50% so there was some credibility to the claim, but it did breed a lot of arrogance.

    • BeeEss, you are about as fluent in criminological principles as you are in most other things – that is, not at all.

      Arbitrarily set harsh sentencing requirements have no real positive function in criminal justice. Only purely politically motivated people like you believe that it does. What matters is the certainty of apprehension.

      • Cool,
        Let’s put more cops on the street,
        How do you feel about that.

        So far all you guys have come up with is to let everybody out of jail. And drop charges left and right.

        • As usual, BeeEss, you are wrong. I’m totally fine with more good cops on the street. Might I suggest raising some taxes on those who have historically avoided paying such to provide funding for that?

          You are (as you frequently do) conflating one issue with another and hyperbolizing on the rest.

          • Ah, Tim. Once again, our perspectives on issues are colored by our experiences along our different paths and sharply diverge here…

            I have met very few ‘bad’ cops. I’ve met a few that I believed were in the wrong profession, but were still basically good people. I’ve also met a LOT (I dare say, the vast majority) that are decent, hardworking protectors that take their oaths seriously. Most of those would give you the shirt off their backs if it would help you… including the female officers ;-)

            Oh, the actual ‘bad’ ones that I’ve run across were duly – and officially – reported for their actions… Which is where our perspectives start to align again… There are, indeed, systemic problems with removing those who do not belong in the profession that have needed addressing for many decades… but that is another discussion for another day.

          • “Might I suggest raising some taxes on those who have historically avoided paying such“

            No I’d prefer cutting funding for stupid Marxist socialist programs and entitlements.

            That should pay for it.

          • We define “bad cop” differently Stinger. Or maybe it’s just “good cop.”

            The Rampart division of LAPD was running operations that would have done the mafia proud. It was so widely known that Hollywood was making movies with “fictional” screenplays that the rest of the world called “dark and gritty” while people in LA just said “oh, hey, Rampart.” It went on for a decade and if not for the Rodney King riots there’s no reason to think it would have ever ended.

            How many “good” cops would you say were serving in LAPD at that time?

            Derek Chauvin was ‘investigated’ eighteen times before he managed to kill a citizen. The investigations led to discipline twice…both times that citizens had video evidence. No fellow officer, trained observers all, ever saw him commit any crimes, apparently. None of them noticed the “depraved mind, without regard for human life” that they were working with FOR TWENTY YEARS.

            How many “good cops” are there in the MPD?

          • So, BeeEss, you have now stated that you believe that it is appropriate for people to avoid paying their taxes to pay for ‘stupid Marxist socialist programs’ like more police officers on the street, which was, after all, the subject we were speaking of.

            So, what you’re saying is that YOU’RE the one wanting to ‘defund the police,’ after all.

            Thank you, BeeEss, for showing your true colors.

          • It amazes me how the basic clowns of the world flip out at any suggestion to tax the rich. “Tax the rich??? NO WAY!!! I’d rather see poor people starve!!! I’d rather pay more myself!!! ANYTHING!!! Anything; but absolutely do NOT tax the rich!!!” Totally mystifying.

          • Also your on crack if you thing Marxist socialist programs have anything to do with funding police.

            Good lord, lol
            You guys are having a bad night.

          • Actually, BeeEss, I never mentioned ‘the rich.’ That was your target of choice, which says a lot about your argument.

            Fact is, you have stated, clearly, that you endorse evading taxes.

          • Since you obviously have no clue about what is or isn’t “Marxist/Socialist” and just throw the term around sort of randomly it’s hard to address you on the subject. Maybe we should just talk red rubber noses and other things that you are more familiar with than economics.

          • ..and you clearly have absolutely no clue whatsoever about the ‘isms’ that you like to spew about, BeeEss.

          • “The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. ” Ronald Reagan

          • A hilarious statement from Reagan, who presided over not only a stupendous increase in government spending, but also one of the greatest tax increases in American history. Dude was an absolutely phenomenal showman. Has basic clowns praising his name to this day.

        • Yes to more boots on the ground.Yes to more boots on the ground.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.A $10 million dollar tax payer boondoggle.A $10 million dollar tax payer boondoggle.Lining the pockets of Rex’s pals.Lining the pockets of Rex’s pals.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.

          • See? Right there, BeeEss and I could both be happy. We get to cut a boondoggle of a political payback with taxpayer money and redirect it to more good cops and supervision.

  8. A couple of solutions here. (1) etch your cat with VIN number. (2) deport all illegal immigrants. The same ones that steal all the wires out of street lighting and raid your recycling bins.

    • (1) Etching your VIN on your cat would be animal abuse. I suggest your catalytic converter, instead.
      (2) It is obvious that you haven’t spent much time in the barrio. You have very little to fear from illegal immigrants in the way of crime: they’re too busy trying to keep their heads down. No. It is the legal citizens (of varying ethnicities) of our own that commit these crimes… And it’s most commonly by those who are in some form of extreme economic desperation, either by their own bad decisions, or otherwise.
      (2a) Wire theft is not common with electrically charged streetlights. Doing so requires special equipment and a way to de-energize the light. Wherever you got this, you should have questioned them more thoroughly. Wire theft, of the nature that I believe you meant, is more commonly at vacated locations, such as a house left empty by a bank foreclosure or a construction site with no security measures.
      (2b) You do know the difference between collecting recyclables and wire theft, don’t you?