Calgary police are warning car homeowners after seeing a large spike in latest catalytic converter thefts within the metropolis.
In keeping with Calgary police statistics there’s been 369 reported thefts to this point this 12 months, in comparison with 147 reported in all of 2025.
Sgt. Nick Wilsher with the Calgary Police Crime Prevention unit says one of many components triggering the pattern of those thefts is the rise in worth of the steel.
“We all know that the metals contained within the converter is value much more cash than it was final 12 months in order that’s sort of triggering folks eager to attempt to discover a straightforward buck to begin considering, ‘Nicely, it’s value extra. I’ll get extra,’” he says.
World Information has obtained a video from a house owner that recorded one among these thefts occurring in broad daylight locally of Sunnyside round 12:13 p.m. on Tuesday.
Three folks will be seen within the video strolling in the direction of a parked car, then one among them crawls beneath. The trio is passed by 12:15 p.m. together with the catalytic converter.
Safety video data as a catalytic converter is stolen from a parked automobile locally of Sunnyside on Tuesday.
Obtained by World Information
“That’s the largest drawback with this,” says Sgt. Wilsher. “It’s such a fast and straightforward offence to commit and it’s a kind of the place you are able to do it shortly and no one’s actually noticing. It’s that fast that lots of people don’t discover.”
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That’s what occurred to Kelsey Alain earlier this week. She additionally lives in Sunnyside and says she didn’t discover that she was a sufferer till she tried to begin her automobile.
“There was a extremely loud rumble or sort of roar, and I understand one thing was flawed after which I regarded beneath my automobile and certain sufficient somebody tried to chop the pipe, both facet of my catalytic converter. Fortunately, they didn’t take it.”
The Alberta Motor Affiliation web site says round 4,800 catalytic converters are stolen throughout the province yearly. It additionally has numerous prevention suggestions, together with parking your car in properly lit areas and in a means that nobody can get beneath it, or having the converter welded proper to the car.
One other is having the car identification quantity engraved proper on to the converter, which the web site say makes it “tougher for thieves to promote and simpler for police to hint.”
They partnered with Kal Tire lately to make that engraving obtainable at a low value to the shopper.
“Catalytic converters are very costly,” says Kal Tire worker Marie Alexander. “They usually are very costly, so preventative of getting your (converter) engraved might be a good suggestion as a result of that stops it … normally,” she says.
Alexander says relying on the car, changing a catalytic converter might value the car proprietor not less than $1,000.
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