- Salt Lake City reported a 40% drop in catalytic converter thefts year-over-year.
- Nationally, thefts surged due to rising metal values, but Salt Lake City bucks the trend.
- Sgt. Greg Wilkins credits police efforts and community tech for crime reduction.
SALT LAKE CITY — Crooks roll under your car, cut out its catalytic converter and then sell it to scrap yards and other recyclers for its precious metals. Lately, the values of those metals have been on the rise, which in turn has pushed the number of thefts up – nationally. But the data the KSL Investigators got from Salt Lake City shows we're experiencing the opposite phenomenon here.
KSL's Mike Headrick has gone undercover to recycle yards to see if he could cash for a catalytic converter. And I've tested various products that claim to make it tougher for thieves to rip the emissions control device from your car.
So, you'd expect a news release from Carfax that highlights a nationwide surge in catalytic converter theft to be big news in Utah. It attributes that surge to the rising values of the previous metals inside like rhodium, which has "more than doubled in value over the past year."
And the same release identifies the top 10 vehicles targeted by catalytic converter thieves. Every vehicle listed was either a SUV or a pickup truck — all having a higher ground clearance, making it easier for a bad guy to crawl under. Utah has more than its fair share of such elevated vehicles.
But when I checked in with Salt Lake City police, I learned that reported catalytic converter thefts are down a significant 40% year-over-year.
"So, we're actually counter to that," said Sgt. Greg Wilkins about the national trend of rising thefts. "We're doing a better job with crime prevention all the way around."
The "we" in "we're doing a better job" is the royal we. Wilkins credits police work and citizens – us – for installing prime prevention tech on our homes.
"It's probably a result of a lot more of the video cameras capturing this stuff," he said.
And "stuff" means more than just the theft of car parts. While property crime across the country is down about 12%, Salt Lake City's property crime rate is beating the curve with a 26.8% drop – more than double.
Wilkins says the drop in Salt Lake's property crime rate is besting the national average.
"All property crimes," he said. "So, I think that speaks to our efforts, and it speaks to the community reaching out."
Police say devices such as porch or doorbell cameras absolutely help them identify repeat offenders, bring them to justice and, in some cases, get stolen property — catalytic converter or otherwise — back to the rightful owner.
