Video shows brazen catalytic converter theft in Calgary amid rise in daytime snatchings

A video showing the brazen theft of a catalytic converter in the middle of the day in Calgary’s Killarney neighbourhood is just one example of an escalating problem police in the city are dealing with.

According to Sgt. Nick Wilsher with the Calgary Police Service’s crime prevention unit, they’ve received several calls from people reporting their valuable catalytic converters have been snatched off their vehicles.

In a video posted to Reddit last week, a man wearing a mask can be seen crawling out from underneath a green truck parked on the street in Killarney, where it’s believed he stole the catalytic converter.

The person taking the video captures the man running to another white SUV parked in front of the truck, tossing the vehicle part into the back seat before running around and jumping in the front passenger seat.

As the person taking the video approaches the suspect vehicle, zooming in on the licence plate, the man can be heard saying “Go,” and the SUV drives away.

1:56 Catalytic converters becoming more tempting targets for Calgary thieves

Wilsher said the metals inside of catalytic converters are worth a lot of money, making them a hot ticket item for thieves. However, those thieves are getting more brazen with their targets.

“It has been getting more and more that they’re doing it during the daytime,” Wilsher said.

“It was something that was occurring mainly late evening and night. But we’re seeing more and more people taking advantage of the daylight and just doing it during the day.”

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Wilsher said sometimes, stolen catalytic converters will be brought to metal recyclers, but with recyclers becoming more vigilant in monitoring for stolen materials, it’s becoming more difficult.

“But if somebody is just bringing in one catalytic converter and they’re saying that, you know, they’re working on a vehicle that’s not going to seem out of the ordinary to the metal recyclers,” he said. “So it’s very hard for them to identify who is and who isn’t.”

Wilsher said a person whose vehicle has been targeted by a catalytic converter bandit won’t be able to tell by looking at it, but “as soon as you start it, you will know that your vehicle is starting to sound like a tractor.”