WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) — Police want Waterbury residents to be on alert for thieves stealing catalytic converters. The crooks hit three different lots in the Brass City last weekend – they even targeted marked police cars.
“So, they cut this whole section of pipe off,” said Waterbury Deputy Director of Public Works (DPW) Patrick Mulvehill, standing under a marked Waterbury police car up on a lift in the DPW garage.
He’s talking about what thieves did to steal the catalytic converters off the car. It was one of several surplus vehicles stored in an open lot at the public works department before being re-purposed to other city agencies.
“We found nine vehicles that all the cats were cut off and wiring damage from the oxygen sensors,” Mulvehill said.
Those will each cost about a thousand dollars to fix. At Day-Break Adult Day Services, thieves stole catalytic converters from their vans three times now, once last year, once in January, and then this past weekend. In the latest event, the crooks hit every van they have, meaning Day Break could not pick up its adult daycare clients.
“They had to stay home,” Suzzette Lopez, the director of Day-Break said. “A lot of family members missed work because they had to take care of their family members.”
Those converters have little bits of very expensive materials in them.
“It’s the precious metals in the catalytic converters that they’re after,” Mulvehill said. “They’re in the exhaust to clean up for emissions.”
The DPW has now moved most of its vehicles into a gated lot for more security, but what can you do to make sure your vehicle doesn’t become the next target of these thieves? Police say step number one is to park in a secure location.
“If you can’t do that, make sure it’s well-lit where the vehicle is parked,” Lt. Ryan Bessett, Waterbury police spokesperson said. “Motion sensors help. Anything you can do to deter someone. They may leave the area if they know someone’s looking or watching.”
Your mechanic can etch your VIN on the catalytic converter, or weld a cage around it to make it hard to get to. The most important thing is to be alert.
“If you see someone at odd hours, early morning, late evening, bent down near a car with any kind of tools,” Lt. Bessette said. “Anything that your gut tells you is not right, call police, report the activity.”
Day-Break was able to re-open today, and Lopez hopes to stay open with working vehicles.
“It’s unfortunate, and I hope that whoever is doing it will maybe have a conscience and stop,” Lopez said.
The thieves may stop if they can no longer make money off them. Lawmakers in Hartford are working on a bill that would make it tougher to sell stolen catalytic converters.