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Catalytic converter thefts in California
- joelbondurant 5y agoCommunist property is public property.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- b_emery 5y agoMy was stolen last year ($3k and 3 weeks to replace), and at the advice of the muffler shop I got one of these, for $200 installed (so far so good): https://www.catstrap.net/ https://www.catstrap.net/ The key is that it would just take a lot longer to steal.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoI only wish Costco would sell and install these for folks (using their purchase power and distribution network to soften the cost). Cheap insurance in areas where this sort of activity is endemic.
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoI worry about systems like this, because if I were a thief and you pissed me off with the addition of the siren versus just the protective layer, I’d slash your tires and break all of your windows then run off. So if I’m thinking this, how much worse will an actual criminal behave? Setting a car on fire only costs $5.
- genocidicbunny 5y agoThen next time it won't be just a siren but something more injurious. And if you start setting cars on fire, the cops won't be so lax about catching you.
- penagwin 5y agoI highly doubt you could use something more injurious legally at least. Maybe pepper spray or something, but defense must be proportional (including booby traps) - you cannot for example setup a shotgun to shoot their legs (see Katko v. Britney).
- genocidicbunny 5y agoMy point is that the legality of it would stop mattering much. And even then, set up a siren that can do 160db, that will cause immediate hearing damage. With a bit of know-how, you can also have it fuse off some of that power to drop it under 130db after the first use to make it appear legal. There are plenty of places in CA where if you're stealing a cat., and the owner catches you, you might find yourself getting pushed off a tall mountainside in the boonies.
- dmitrygr 5y agoonce maybe, twice maybe. Eventually you get caught, and arson will get you jail, even with SF's current DA
- genocidicbunny 5y agoDepending on which part of CA you're in, you would be lucky to only get jail time. People that have gone through wildfires won't take kindly to firebugs.
- sushid 5y agoSounds like an extremely poor argument for letting criminals do whatever they want. Do you keep your house/car door unlocked just in case a criminal would like to take a gander? What if the thief throws a brick at the windows and the runs off?
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoWell, I’ve actually been robbed. I don’t really care what your opinion is.
- LeoPanthera 5y agoThis says more about you than it does about the product, or of thieves.
- b_emery 5y agoI would think that they're in a hurry, see the extra stuff, and move on. The thought had crossed my mind however.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoMost thieves don't have time for that, they'd rather move on to the next car. why would they want to waste all the energy and attract attention? I suppose a crazed methhead might do it.
- xtiansimon 5y agoSounds like you’re describing theft and harassment.
- CamperBob2 5y agoJust a reminder that we already have more than 800,000 police officers in this country, so that's probably not the problem. It must be something else.
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y agoThe problem is poverty and a general lack of opportunity.
- Proven 5y agoI was poor and didn't even think to steal other people's shit
- noofen 5y agoBecause you're probably a good person. In California (and the US at large), good people don't reproduce at the same rate as parasitic people. It's easy being a parasite.
- dang 5y agoWe've banned this account for using HN primarily for ideological battle. That's not allowed here, regardless of what you're battling for or against, because it destroys the curiosity that this site is supposed to be for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- geotus 5y agoPoverty of morals? Yes. Lack of opportunity for a constructive ethos to reach these people? Certainly.
- tomjen3 5y agoThat is solvable by jacking up the change of getting caught and the punishment metered out until it doesn't happen.
- 5y ago
- hourislate 5y agoPossible solution. Don't allow wrecking yards to buy them unless they are attached to a car. At that point they are worthless because the thieves will have no where to sell them. Now if the thieves decide to cut them open and take out the platinum, palladium or rhodium, don't allow the wrecker to buy it without taking the persons identification and contact information which will be sent to law enforcement.
- nielsbot 5y agoI thought scrappers were already required to keep records of who sells to them for just this reason. I found this: https://iscrapapp.com/scrap-laws/ https://iscrapapp.com/scrap-laws/
- rtkwe 5y agoThey're supposed to but there's unscrupulous people in every industry and these could even get sold to middle men who take them out of the country for processing.
- kasey_junk 5y agoEvery yard near me (Southside Chicago) requires provenance in the form of a title or proof of purchase of a new converter. Further they won’t (ostensibly) buy more than 1 converter at a time. Hasn’t made a dent in thefts. Like most things, I’m sure globalization has come to this “industry” and you’ll find they are great products to ship back in all those empty containers our trade surplus provides.
- polotics 5y agoYou meant trade deficit, not surplus.
- bmarquez 5y agoI suspect that if wrecking yards banned them, thieves will just ship the catalytic converters overseas, just like they do with stolen locked iPhones.
- 5y ago
- francisofascii 5y agoWhy is California a hotbed for these crimes?
- vondur 5y agoBecause we have stopped persecuting most non violent crimes here.
- jdavis703 5y agoStealing a $3k catalytic converter is a felony. It would absolutely be prosecuted (or plea bargained) if the cops find the thieves.
- tastygreenapple 5y agoNah, the progressive DAs are really reluctant to prosecute property crime, this discourages the police from making a case for prosecution. I know a filmmaker in Oakland who had thousands of dollars of electronics stolen from their car (and receipts/insurance to prove the value of the electronics). One of the items stolen was an iPad that was phoning its location home, the filmmaker tried to direct the Oakland police to the house with the stolen iPad (itself worth >$950 dollars) but the police said they didn't think the case would stick and declined to go address the situation. It may be 'in fact' that theft over $950 is a felony that police should take seriously, but in practice, it's really rare to see a thief prosecuted.
- jdavis703 5y agoOakland has less police per capita than most cities, so police tend to prioritize violent crimes. This has nothing to do with prosecutors. In fact, the last prosecutors election was an incumbent vs. a reformer. The incumbent won, so this has nothing to do with progressive prosecutors.
- trowingray 5y agoOne of the groups behind this in LA was released during the pandemic and continued their work... They know they won't be put back. The group caught in San Diego (caught with a house full of catalytic converters) were only charged for having a slide they'd stolen from a local park. Slap on the wrist. A lot of non violent crime is not being pursued at this time, besides these thefts. It's a broader trend. Taxes go up, services go down. Why? Just never enough money to govern somehow in California... Clearly, it's an impoverished state. (If we measured by more than money in common thinking, that isn't even sarcasm)
- olivermarks 5y agohttps://youtu.be/bpuAv0sTh-w https://youtu.be/bpuAv0sTh-w useful video on where they go https://youtu.be/53Ru0whEbCA https://youtu.be/53Ru0whEbCA processing video
- kriskrunch 5y agoNice videos! It's really sad to see how little this guy recovers from the cats in the second video. That's a Honda Element in the first video, one of the more popular targets. Here's a rough list of the most popular: Toyota Tundra Toyota Prius Toyota Tacoma Ford F-250 Honda Element & CRV It's easier to steal them out of trucks and SUV's because of the ground clearance. Learned about this a year and a half ago when my GF's cat was stolen from her Element, parked in front of my house in Los Angeles.
- LeoPanthera 5y agoAn unexpected but welcome bonus for being an EV owner - no cat to steal! (The lack of oil, and brake pads that last the life of the car, are also perks that don't often get discussed.)
- powerbroker 5y agoYou know, that Tesla, for about 6 months in the mid 2010s, routinely swapped batteries at a road-side site in California. I just hope that the hoodlums don't learn how to do that too. Don't let all that EV smugness go to your head. There are plenty of reasons to have a few ICE vehicles around. I hate to think of which type of vehicle suffers more when there is an X-Class solar flare on the scale of a Carrington event.
- LeoPanthera 5y agoYou seem to be imagining problems that do not exist. The battery swap facility was for the Tesla Model S only, and the battery cannot be removed as if it was a Duracell. It needed to be disconnected with a specialized robot. Current battery packs are even harder to remove - even if "battery pack theft squads" were a thing, which they aren't. As for the solar flare - this sounds like a problem for science fiction. The chassis of the car is a faraday cage! They survive getting struck by lightning!
- bognition 5y agoBack in college my roommates 10 year old car died because the on board computer for fried. That car was made in the 90s. Just because gas cars burn fossil fuels doesn’t mean they don’t have electronic components.
- throwawaysea 5y agoThey are all over the west coast period. In Portland and Seattle they even take place in broad daylight.
- underseacables 5y agoI knew a man in Los Angeles that had his stolen twice, weeks after getting a new one.
- neonate 5y agohttps://archive.is/bGjjz https://archive.is/bGjjz