Seven Honda Catalytic Converter Thefts Around Decatur in Last 72 Hours; Decatur Police Investigating
Decatur Metro | May 15, 2013The City of Decatur’s Linda Harris sends this announcement from Decatur Police Chief Mike Booker…
The Decatur Police Department is investigating the theft of catalytic converters from (7) vehicles in the past 72 hours. All of these thefts occurred during the overnight hours. Six of the thefts were from Honda Elements and one was from a Honda CRV. These thefts occurred on Jefferson Place, Adair Street, 5th Avenue, Spring Street, Cambridge Avenue and Feld Avenue. Some vehicles were parked in driveways and some were parked on the street. Please pay extra attention to these types of vehicles if you or a neighbor owns one and call police immediately if you see or hear anything suspicious.
If you have information related to the thefts, please call Sgt. Jennifer Ross 404-373-6551.
Chief Mike Booker
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So is it reasonable to assume those Honda models were targeted because they are easier to get under than, say, a Civic?
How very strange.
SUVs are the most common target of catalytic converter thieves because they’re easy to get under and the converter is easily accesible. Not sure why Hondas seem to be the favored model here, other than they’re a popular model in general.
Having been a double victim, I know older Hondas are huge targets. First my 1999 crv stolen and 11 months later my convertor. The stolen car ended up in Henry county being chopped for parts. My understanding with the second theft was the metal inside the CC was the target. U sure hope police are driving around at night, so there in no triple play. I can’t park in a garage(don’t have one) and it is parked in driveway facing in, which was the suggestion. Motion lights and porch lights at the ready!
They are after three expensive precious metals, platinum, rhodium and palladium. Each cat is worth probably a couple hundred dollars when sold to a scrap yard.
Make that a scrap yard operating illegally. A legitimate one would recognize what’s going on. Another initiative needs to be to cut off the criminal’s ability to see the stuff.
Wasn’t a bill introduced in the GA Assembly last year which would impose greater requirements on scrap yards designed to make it much more difficult for thieves to sell scrap metal? Was it defeated?
It was passed, but some still operate outside the law. And, some surrounding states don’t have such strict requirements, so the perps go out of state.
For less than $80 we have an outdoor night vision motion sensor camera. We have been using ours for wildlife, but I think we’ll set it up on the driveway now!
So, what kind of wildlife have you seen with it? Ours would be: “squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel …”
We like to verify that it’s the small furry things we like coming in and out of holes around the yard. We have family on a farm only as far out as Lithonia though, and they have deer and bobcat!
Wow! If you get a good pic of anything, maybe you can send it into DM for “Eye on the Street, er Backyard.”
My car was one of those hit. Scary thing is the car was parked in my driveway underneath my bedroom window….maybe 20 feet away from me. I slept with the window open that night….didn’t hear a thing. Called my electrician (Oakhurst’s best electrician Matthew Morgan ) to get some sensor lights installed in the area I park my car.
Wow – that’s very scary. It’s hard to imagine someone taking off – especially if it requires cutting off – a catalytic converter right from under your nose.
You know, my dogs freaked out the other night. I mean freaked out! I have a dog door and the two that can use it tore through and and were barking their heads off and were on the prowl. I let my large dog (who is usually docile) out and he flew over to the fence where the driveway is. I didn’t see anything, but now I am wondering if they heard someone trying to mess with my car (I have one of the referenced vehicles). I need to check to see if it looks like someone started to cut it. Damn.
When I used to take MARTA to work, this used to happen all the time at MARTA stations, especially the Inman Park station where the very back parking was hard for security to see and patrol.
Just happened last Friday to my friends who live in Grant Park as well.
Are your friends in Grant Park on Milledge? WSB did a live remote from there last night. Five CCs were grabbed in one night on Milledge.
No, but not very far from there.
This reminds me of the copper thefts. Platinum prices are up this year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130513-707238.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
I Googled Honda Element Catalytic Convertor and found that someone makes an anti-thef locking mechanism for it:
http://www.catclamp.com/installers.html
The image shown on that website is from the underside of a 2008 Honda Element. I had no idea this was serious enough for someone to make an anti-theft mechanism for it. The standard version goes for $159. It’s expensive, but cheaper than a new catalytic converter.
I don’t have any association with that website or those vendors/people other than Google just now.
Sorry for spamming, but some more useful info from a 2011-01-12 article in the Chicago Tribune:
“Dusa said most customized units he sells in the Chicago area are for Honda Elements and Toyota 4 Runners. He said Jeep Cherokees are also high on the list for his Chicago sales.
Catalytic converters are coated with platinum, rhodium and palladium, precious metals that have increased dramatically in price over the past few years. Scrap metal businesses pay up to $200 for catalytic converter units, which can be removed in less than 30 seconds with a reciprocating saw, according to law-enforcement personnel and other experts.
Vehicles that sit higher off the ground, such as Honda Elements and other SUVs, are more likely targets.”
source : http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-01-12/news/ct-x-c-catalytic-converter-20110112_1_converter-thefts-catalytic-converter-thieves-work
Somewhere I heard that the Decatur Police Dept is short staffed by several officers. Openings that have not been filled. Does anyone know if this is true?
The post in my neighborhood watch group mentioned that the catalytic converters on the Honda Elements are mounted with just 4 bolts, so they are easily removed and no noisy cutting.
Dumb question: How does one know that their catalytic convertor has been stolen?
One of the victims on the news said he cranked his Element the next morning and “it sounded like ten lawn mower engines.”
Yep. You’ll know immediately!
If I had a vehicle prone to this type of crime and had to park outside, I would consider parking over something very heavy–something that couldn’t be easily moved without moving the vehicle. It could be something as simple as a bunch of concrete blocks that would take time and effort to move from under a stationary vehicle. Of course, this probably wouldn’t be possible with street parking.
The Honda Element in particular has an especially easy to remove cat. Plenty of ground clearance and no cutting necessary – just bolts.