South of Sunnyside

As I was leaving the house this morning I caught a few words from a story on ABC 30 regarding the theft of catalytic converters in southeast Fresno. I couldn’t find anything on their site, but I did find this from the Bee (copied here to save others from logging in):

Catalytic converters stolen

Fresno police have issued a warning to motorists to be aware of a crime trend throughout the city of the theft of catalytic converters. Many of the thefts are from trucks and SUVs made by Toyota, and from other models of SUVs.

Over the past month, 33 victims have reported thefts of catalytic converters from their vehicles. Officers are passing out information fliers about the thefts at large apartment complexes and shopping centers in southeast Fresno, where most of the thefts have been reported.

The converters apparently are easier to steal from Toyota trucks and from SUVs than from other vehicles, said Jeff Cardinale, Fresno police spokesman. The parts are being sold for the metal.

Police recommend parking vehicles in well-lit areas or in a locked garage. Vehicle owners can install an anti-theft device to help prevent thefts.

I’m not terribly worried about this spreading to our neighborhood, though in our short history we’ve seen quite a bit: the theft of a car, graffiti, blight from abandonment, home robbery, and the theft of wire from almost every street light (at least once).

What I am concerned about is that we, as a community, have yet to address the root of such theft: drugs (or so I’m told). We have a meth problem, though I’m not sure we embrace it as a community issue. Funding such widespread addiction is a continual rise in metal theft.

First to go were irrigation pumps (on second thought, copper theft from construction likely preceded this). Then it was City-strung wire. And now, catalytic converters.

There seems to be a common thread, strung through metal recyclers. The mayor, in his final months, has launched a campaign for a drug-free Fresno—is this being taken into account? What can we (the average citizen) do?

Sigh.

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