Warning to Those Who Park Outside: Catalytic Converter Thieves

The notes about the recent arrests pertaining to the "garage door opener burglaries" also mentioned some arrests of people charged with stealing catalytic converters off of cars and trucks.

Now, this might not be "news" to some of you (I tend not to watch the late-night local news, so maybe they covered this and I simply missed it), but it turns out that catalytic converters are a hot commodity on the black market, primarily due to the trace amounts of precious metals contained inside (gold, platinum, etc.).

SUVs and trucks tend to have larger converters so, as I understand it, those are prime targets. Catalytic converters from cars, while relatively less valuable, are also being stolen, however. I first read about the phenomenon in the New York Times, so this is not just one isolated local event.

Thus, for those of you who have the option, you might want to park in your garage. For those of you who simply can't, please keep an eye out wherever possible.