Catalytic converter thefts from movie theater parking lots

[Leo Enticknap]

I suggested a family outing to see the Super Pets pic today: it's way too hot to do anything outdoors (daytime highs nudging into the 11-teens) and our little one is getting somewhat cabin feverish. Of course this heatwave had to happen over a long holiday weekend.

My wife immediately vetoed the idea, because apparently nextdoor.com and Citizen are buzzing with reports of catalytic converter thefts from cars parked in the lots of our two local theaters in recent weeks. Apparently the police department is now advising moviegoers to take an Uber rather than drive to the theater, because these criminals are systematically targeting movie theater lots: they know that because the cars will be unattended for two hours or more, and in the middle of a large parking lot, often in the dark, they can work pretty much undisturbed.

Is this becoming a problem anywhere else? I guess that having a theater employee patrolling the lot throughout opening hours would be a possibility, but it would drive up costs at a time when the industry can least afford them. And then there is the question of what they would realistically be able to do if they found a (possibly armed) gang sawing cats off cars.

[Marco Giustini]

Indeed my thought: I wouldn't ask cinema staff to suddenly become a security guard!

More lights and cameras maybe?

[Frank Cox]

Sawing cats off of cars....
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[Leo Enticknap]

Indeed my thought: I wouldn't ask cinema staff to suddenly become a security guard!

Good point. It would have to be a licensed security contractor, which in these parts costs $70-100 an hour (that is not what the guard actually makes, but what you'd have to pay a licensed and bonded private security company to supply one). And even then, they are not allowed actually to do anything besides call 911 if they do see a crime in progress.

In any case, I hope that a solution for this can be found, because in an area with almost no public transportation (and absolutely no safe and reliable public transportation), if customers don't feel safe leaving their cars in theaters' lots, business is going to take a huge hit.

[Steve Guttag]

Is this becoming a problem anywhere else?

Apparently, Park-n-ride lots for major cities (Colorado is the story linked below...it is a video link) for gas theft

https://youtu.be/zlcXpWc6Yj0

Our company vehicles have been hit a couple of times (for the Catalytic Converters), at night from our shop lot. Vans are easy because they are up high. What finally put a stop to it was increasing our nighvision camera by about 10-fold. We had cameras...even had a recording of the theft(s)...but you never get a good enough shot. Then we went to town on the cameras and changed the lighting of the vehicles such that you are going to get a good video of you...if you have anything that senses IR...it will light up with the number of cameras we had pointing into that lot.

[Carsten Kurz]

We also read a lot about cat theft in Germany as well.

[Marco Giustini]

Time to get a dog

[Marcel Birgelen]

I had my fuel tank forced open and sucked dry a few months back. It's unbelievable what lengths people will go to make a few bucks...

Catalytic converters contain about $200 worth of platinum, but it requires considerable efforts to extract it from there.

[Marco Giustini]

I guess metal prices have skyrocketed and it might be even more worth stealing those nowadays.

[Steve Guttag]

Catalytic Converters are so easy with the battery powered tools nowadays. A battery powered reciprocating saw can be removed in moments. There have been talks in the US of having something like an RFID associated with them so that they would be more tractable (whatever, if they ever, come up with would need to deal with extreme heat). Then again, people will be on electric cars and have different kinds of theft before long.

[Dave Macaulay]

Gas theft is crazy in some transit lots too, where commuters are likely gone all day. Thieves just punch a hole in the tank and fill a Jerry can or three, leaving the rest to drain on the ground.

[Leo Enticknap]

A lot of this problem could be solved by simple design adjustments. A cat (not of the feline variety) positioned under the chassis, between the exhaust manifold and the muffler, is ridiculously quick and easy to saw off, as Steve describes. On the last car I had before I left England (a 2001 Ford Fiesta), it was mounted vertically, immediately underneath the manifold, between it and the back of the engine compartment. At one point there was a spate of thefts and the government did a free program whereby you could take your car to a participating shop, and they would punch a serial number into the casing, which it was claimed would deter thieves from taking it in the first place (because any recycling facility to which the cat was taken would decline to buy it, so the theory went).

So I took mine to the nearest participating shop. The tech took one look at my car and told me not to worry - removal of the cat would require taking the exhaust manifold and several other components off in order to gain access to it. Criminals know this, he told me, and would simply walk on past any of that model. He added that he hoped my cat never failed and required replacement, because that would be 3-4 hours' labor on the bill that wouldn't for a conventionally mounted cat. Given the reliability of modern catalytic converters (my first car after arriving in the USA was a 1999 Civic that I drove to 308K miles, on the original, factory installed cat throughout), I would have thought theft resistance was a higher priority than ease of access for replacement (i.e. a cat is at greater risk from thieves than the matrix failing and the unit needing to be replaced), and that mounting them in a relatively inaccessible spot is the way to go.

[Marcel Birgelen]

The problem with those kind of people is that they'll probably always find *something* that's easily acessible and apparently worthwhile to steal. If every car manufacturer would put the cat in a more protected place, they'll surely find something else worthwhile stealing that's more easily accessible. I remember a year or 15 back, there were some gangs that stole airbags out of the steering wheel of your car. Apparently, there was or is a big market for those on the "second hand" market.

Also, about 15 years back, someone on a bike broke into my brother's car by smashing a window, only to steal a *holder* of a GPS system. This happened in broad daylight, while my brother was watching from his home, but it happened so fast, it was impossible to catch the guy.

Last time they broke into my car, they stole an almost empty purse. There was even video footage of those who did it. Both of their car with the license plate clearly visible and the persons who broke into the car. The police didn't even bother to request the footage. With this kind of attitude, those thieves essentially can do whatever they want, as nobody will ever catch them anyways and they'll never face any consequences for their actions.

[Lyle Romer]

How about the police maybe, I don't know, patrolling movie theatre parking lots since this is a known issue in the area?

[Marcel Birgelen]

How about the police maybe, I don't know, patrolling movie theatre parking lots since this is a known issue in the area?

You forgot to enable the cynical mode on your post.