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More than 120 vehicles were spray painted Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of a church in Mount Greenwood. Far from an act of mass vandalism, police did the tagging to reduce the number of catalytic converter thefts.
Technicians from the Cook County sheriff’s office vehicle services division used tow trucks to lift each registered vehicle outside Crosswinds Church Chicago, 10835 S. Pulaski Road. Then they placed stencils against the catalytic converters and applied CCSO and a star with a high-temperature endurance paint.
The idea is the logo will make thieves think twice about swiping the parts, as it will be harder to find willing buyers, according to Sheriff Tom Dart.
Catalytic converters are a piece of a vehicle’s exhaust system. They are big targets for thieves because they can be easy to access and contain precious metals, driving up the resale price.
With thefts on the rise, Dart said North Side Ald. Samantha Nugent came to him with stories about how other jurisdictions were trying to battle catalytic converter thefts.
The sheriff’s office has already done events to help motorists replace headlights and taillights. Dart said the shift made sense, and the department staged two catalytic converter theft deterrent events on the North Side to get started.
“This is easy,” Dart said. “We’re already suited up and doing this already but for a different thing.”
Dart said he expected a “smattering” of people, maybe 10 to 15, to come out to the first event. But the sheriff’s office hit its capacity of roughly 150 vehicles within an hour of sign-ups going live.
“It told me a couple things,” Dart said. “This is a valuable thing to do, and we need to move it around the county.”
Thursday’s event was the first in the Southland. Now that the office has a process to handle this service, Dart said he is trying to balance the regions they hit.
Chicago 19th Ward Ald. Matthew O’Shea said while he understands the paint is not foolproof in stopping theft, anything that can make it a little more difficult is worthwhile.
“Like many communities, we’ve been plagued by this problem,” O’Shea said. “I just hope it can help make a difference.”
Dart said police interviewed some jail inmates charged with catalytic converter theft when coming up with this spray-painting initiative.
“They said, ‘No, if we see one like that, we’re going to go to the next car instead,'” Dart said. “I’m not trying to stick it to your neighbor, but anything you can do to deter people is what we’re into.”
Dart said his office will continue such events. They are one arm of a multipronged approach that includes legislative changes to make it more difficult for people to resell the parts.
Deborah Grant, a resident of the 19th Ward, brought her car after seeing an advertisement. She crouched to get a look at her catalytic converter, watching as the whole process was completed in just a few minutes.
“I’m just happy that it’s getting done, and I hope that everyone has the opportunity to take advantage of it,” Grant said.
Lizandro Oliva, who has worked with the vehicle services division for six years, was one of the technicians under vehicles Thursday. He has also participated in the sheriff’s light-replacement programs and said it’s a great way to serve the public.
“I get to come out here and meet a lot of people and help them as far as preventing them from getting their catalytic converters stolen,” Oliva said. “I just like meeting people, talking to people, making them happy.”
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Peggy Edison, of Beverly, read about the event in a newspaper and wanted to get ahead of any potential problems.
“When you look at the price of a catalytic converter, I don’t want to pay that,” Edison said.
Gregorio Abraham, with the sheriff’s vehicle services division, said the goal is saving residents from those unplanned expenses while putting a dent in thefts. It is also a nice change from the usual action.
“It gets us out of the shop for a little bit and it goes for a good cause,” Abraham said. “Right now with the holiday season coming up, you’d rather spend money on gifts than be wasting money on car parts that are very expensive.”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.