ND Says: To Stop A Thief You Stop The Payoff.
This will ABSOLUTELY get worse in warmer weather.
My headline was "Bismarck, Thieves Are Stealing These And You Can't Stop It." It was a series of interesting reports coming in from across the state concerning a rash of thefts of vehicle catalytic converters. It seemed odd to me, so i shared it with you back in December.
Thing is...there is nothing other than altitude and elements that can prevent a late night ex-mechanic from shimmying under your vehicle and sawing off your catalytic converter to go off and sell it for a significant(?) amount of money (couple hundred bucks) due to the presence of precious metals.
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that reduces toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction (an oxidation and a reduction reaction.
So good news. the cataclysmic numbers were sooo high on stealing catalytic converters that the North Dakota state Legislature has moved ahead on the simple process of stopping people from buying the stolen goods! It's called "fencing" and unless you're removing used catalytic converters for some higher purpose...you're stealing valuable items that disable vehicles and selling them to others for profit.
Seems simple...STOP BUYING CHOPPED OFF CATALYTIC CONVERTERS!
If you are in possession of CHOPPED OFF CATALYTIC CONVERTERS than watch out...it could soon be illegal if the great state of North Dakota can garner enough support in the legislature to tell those distribution places that they can not profit exclusively to theft. Clearly there are recycling circumstances to keep in mind.
Let's put an end to this silly argument and an end to those that take advantage of it.