Police on Staten Island host crime prevention event after slew of catalytic converter thefts
NEW YORK -- Police on Staten Island took steps to stop catalytic converter thefts Friday.
The police auto crime unit hosted a crime prevention event in Graniteville after having more than 250 catalytic converter thefts this year.
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Officers climbed under cars and applied labels that etch a serial number inside converters.
The etchings are heat resistant and the serial number is entered in a database and can be traced.
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"It's a deterrent in the sense that now when a catalytic converter thief takes the actual catalytic converter, they have to worry about being pulled over or stopped and linking that catalytic converter back to an actual vehicle," Det. Thomas Bark said. "So if I'm accepting catalytic converts in, I'm a salvage yard, et cetera, I gotta be worried about receiving stolen property."
Some 200 people showed up for the event.