LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón connected Monday called connected car manufacturers to enactment with him to make solutions to code the emergence successful thefts of catalytic converters crossed the region and passim the nation.
“Catalytic converters are speedy and casual to steal, and thieves tin rapidly crook them into cash,” the county’s apical authoritative said successful a statement. “In addition, the deficiency of unsocial identifiers makes it virtually intolerable to beryllium successful tribunal that a peculiar catalytic converter was stolen.”
Catalytic converters — which are utilized to crook hazardous exhaust from a conveyance into less-harmful gases — are made of highly invaluable metals specified arsenic platinum, rhodium and palladium and tin fetch up to $1,200 each, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
California is among the apical 5 states for catalytic converter thefts, and determination has been a crisp emergence successful the thefts nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Gascón urged car manufacturers to articulation him successful an effort to “develop originative and inexpensive solutions to substantially forestall these crimes from occurring and trim the likelihood of victimization successful Los Angeles County and the remainder of the nation.”
The territory lawyer has reached retired to 4 large automobile manufacturers, with lone the Torrance-based American Honda Motor Co. expressing involvement truthful acold successful exploring imaginable solutions, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
While the apical authoritative successful San Francisco, Gascón led a akin effort to trim thefts of compartment phones and sponsored authorities making California the archetypal authorities to necessitate termination switches connected compartment phones that marque the devices inoperable if they are stolen.