The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office is teaming up with North Georgia Technical College and local auto shops to try and put a stop to catalytic converter thefts in the county.
On Thursday, October 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the sheriff’s office will host a free event at NGTC’s Transportation Center to introduce Project CAT I.D. The program was developed in response to the significant number of catalytic converter thefts occurring in Habersham and around Georgia. Similar programs have proven successful in other states.
Project CAT I.D. involves tagging a vehicle’s catalytic converter. The part is sprayed with orange high-heat resistant paint and the vehicle’s I.D. number (VIN) is etched into the converter.
During Thursday’s event at NGTC, vehicle owners can have their catalytic converters painted and etched for free. Their information will then be entered into a database. The same service will also be available to vehicle owners through local auto shops.
“This will be a service provided free of charge when a customer comes in for an oil change or other service appointment,” states a press release from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. “The business partner will complete the painting and etching, record the vehicle owner information, and upload the information into a database maintained by the sheriff’s office.”
Converting converters into cash
Catalytic converters are valuable because they contain rare metals such as rhodium, palladium, and platinum. When sold, they can net thieves hundreds of dollars in cash.
Thieves target vehicles based on three simple criteria: ease of theft, value of the specific converter, and opportunity. The American Automobile Association (AAA) states, “Any vehicle with sufficient ground clearance is a target. But pickup trucks, SUVs, and Toyota Priuses are often targeted because of their exceptionally expensive catalytic converters.”
In 2020, Habersham County deputies arrested five people from South Carolina caught stealing catalytic converters off of local church vehicles. In April of this year, the sheriff’s office reported a string catalytic converter thefts and in May, they arrested a Clarkesville man suspected of stealing them.
Parking in well-lit areas near security cameras and motion-sensor lights can help deter thefts, and now, law enforcement hopes so will Project CAT I.D.
“With the special marking and etching, a would-be thief will think twice before attempting to steal any converter marked with orange paint,” the sheriff’s office says.
If thieves steal a marked converter and law enforcement recovers it, investigators can use the database to trace the stolen part back to its owner.
