The city of Lexington is taking steps to reduce thefts of catalytic converters off large government-owned vehicles. Lexington’s City Council last week was asked to approve spending $129,000 to construct a new parking lot. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Glenn Brown said it will serve as a secured location for gathering up vehicles.
“So we’ve moved it to a centralized location out at waste management where we’ve got cameras and lights. We have the police that have the canine facility down beyond the location of where this is gonna be. And we have an electric fence that opens and closes, so we should be able to notice people,” said Brown.
Catalytic converters contain three precious minerals, platinum, palladium and rhodium Lexington Police report Kentucky saw a 234% increase in catalytic converters thefts from 2020 to 2021.
Charlie Martin is the Water Quality Division Director. He said cars in the city’s pool grouping tend to be less vulnerable.
“The vehicles that are most prone to being hit are pickup trucks or larger heavier equipment. So, the individual pool cars are really not really at risk because they don’t have a lot of value in their catalytic converter, plus it’s really hard for a thief to get under them. What happens is they show up with these saw saws, that are battery-powered. They slide under there and they’re gone,” said Martin.
Among the suggestions to reduce the chance of theft are to consider installing an anti-theft device and try to park in a well-lit area near fixed objects that limit clearance around the vehicle.
