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Catalytic Converter Thefts Have An Impact On Syracuse Catalytic Converter Thefts Impact on Syracuse

Catalytic Converter thefts have increased in New York State

By Kennedy Houston

KENNEDY HOUSTON: Syracuse has been impacted by the rise of catalytic converter thefts. Public information officer Lieutenant Matthew Malinowski says there’s been a rise in thefts since 20-21.

LIEUTENANT MATTHEW MALINOWSKI: So, between February 2021 to February 2022 there was a 97 catalytic converter thefts that occurred um in Onondaga County.

HOUSTON: Catalytic converter thefts aren’t just a consumer issue. Masello’s auto service owner Anthony Mascello says mechanics are being impacted by the theft too.

ANTHONY MASELLO: There was one dealership that got quite a few stolen in Mitsubishi and uh they couldn’t even buy em from Japan. They weren’t made yet.

HOUSTON: Here at Masello’s Auto Service they noticed that the cars experiencing the most catalytic converter thefts tend to be Priuses and Toyotas.

HOUSTON: One issue with resolving the thefts is that they’re harder to track. Lieutenant Malinowski says this is an issue throughout the city.

MALINOWSKI: It doesn’t really just have one area. It’s commercially, but it’s the whole region getting affected by them and that’s what makes it challenging. It’s not necessarily seeing them in one spot. It’s pretty much evenly spread across the county.

HOUSTON: The new legislation proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul would put serial numbers on the converters. Lieutenant Malinowski says the legislation would be great for holding thieves accountable. In Syracuse, Kennedy Houston, N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)— According to the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul, in New York State, catalytic converter thefts have increased significantly. Specifically, in Onondaga County from February 2021 to February 2022 there were a reported 97 catalytic converter thefts. According to Lt. Matthew Malinowski, Public Information Officer for the Syracuse Police Department, a key factor to help resolve the thefts is the Crime Analysis Center.

“But like any crime trends that we see the Crime Analysis Center can plot all these instances on a map, so we can see where they’re occurring,” said Malinowski. “We can figure out you know kinda what the MO is.”

While the Crime Analysis Center can help determine where the crimes take place, it can also be a tool to determine the number of crimes committed. The center was used to determine the number of catalytic converter thefts in Onondaga county. However, it has not been used to update the numbers recently. Malinowski said this is due to it being a time-consuming process.

“The problem is just like everywhere else there’s staffing issues so it’s severely backed up,” said Malinowski. “A lot of times people want day of information from me and it’s just not possible.”

Although there isn’t any recent data for Onondaga County, the theft has increased throughout the State. To combat the robberies, Hochul has announced that there will be legislation to prevent the crime from occurring. The legislation will focus on dealerships providing etching kits for the converters, so there can be a serial number. It will also force chop shops to keep track of converters every time they are sold.

Malinowski thinks this can be great for Syracuse.

“There’s not much in the way of accountability,” said Malinowski. “We would advocate for if you wanna stop catalytic converter theft then make the punishments for doing such worse.”

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