The St. Albert RCMP hope local drivers will tag their catalytic converters this summer to help stop an ongoing flood of thefts.
The St. Albert RCMP kicked off its Tag Your Cat campaign earlier this month. The provincewide initiative is a partnership between police, car repair shops, and the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) aimed at preventing the theft of catalytic converters from cars.
Catalytic converters are devices used to convert toxins in car exhaust into less harmful forms.
Catalytic converter theft is an ongoing problem in St. Albert, said St. Albert RCMP Cst. MJ Burroughs. Thieves cut these devices out of a car’s exhaust system to sell the precious metals (such as platinum) in them.
There were about a thousand reported catalytic converter thefts in Alberta last year, with many of them involving multiple units, said Staff Sgt. Luke Halvorson, a community safety officer at the RCMP’s K-Division headquarters in Edmonton.
“There’s thousands of these getting stolen,” he said, resulting in tens of thousands of property damage.
Halvorson said officers find potentially stolen converters all the time, but can’t prove they’ve been stolen because the units have no unique marks on them to link them to a specific vehicle.
The Leduc RCMP hit on the idea of etching Vehicle Identification Numbers (which are unique to each vehicle) onto these converters a couple of years ago as a way to address this problem, Halvorson said. Last year, the AMA partnered with Alberta Kal Tire outlets, the RCMP, and the Calgary, Camrose, Edmonton, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat police to roll out this etching program provincewide. Some 2,800 Albertans got their converters marked last year through this initiative, the AMA reports.
Halvorson said etching numbers onto a catalytic converter makes it traceable and harder to sell and should help police to catch and charge thieves. He couldn’t say if this campaign had driven down converter thefts as of yet, as police were still collecting data on it.
Where to get tagged
Halvorson said car owners can get their converters marked at most Kal Tire locations Alberta and at certain local auto shops.
“It’s a great tool for the police to hold thieves accountable.”
In St. Albert, Burroughs said drivers can get their converters tagged at Canadian Tire, Fountain Tire, Gate Ave. Service Auto Select, Kal Tire, OK Tire, St. Albert Tune Up & Brake Auto Centre, Tirecraft, and Trail Tire. She encouraged other local auto shops to join the program.
Burroughs said St. Albert shops have been asked to offer this service on a cost-recovery basis.
A quick poll of participating shops by the Gazette found that they were charging anywhere from about $250 (Trail Tire) to $40 (Tirecraft) for this service, with most saying they had yet to perform any etchings.
Jason Verth of the St. Albert Kal Tire said his crews charge $40 to mark a converter and have marked hundreds of such units since last year. The process takes about 30 minutes and involves an engraving tool and a stencil, although some steady-handed employees can do it freehand. Some cars have hard-to-reach converters and aren’t worth engraving, while others have multiple units. Once a car’s converters are marked, crews give drivers stickers they can place on their windshields to indicate such.
Halvorson said drivers should park their vehicles in garages or well-lit areas to discourage catalytic converter theft.
Questions on the Tag Your Cat project should go to the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.
