Catalytic converter thieves continue their quick surgeries on cars, trucks and buses across Connecticut, a trend that has become increasingly hazardous for police officers who confront the crooks.
Windsor Locks Det. Dan Bontempo was the latest officer to survive a close call. Bontempo was on a suspicious-person call Thursday at about 2:15 a.m. when he heard the distinct sound of a metal-cutting saw in the parking lot of the Homewood Suites by Hilton across Route 75.
A jack beneath the targeted car was released, and Bontempo saw the car hit the pavement. Another police officer pulled into the parking lot, and Bontempo drove his marked police cruiser around the hotel to cover the other exit. He parked and was about to get out and put down a tire flattening device when the thief sped straight at him.
“I braced myself for the impact,” Bontempo said. “I thought for sure they were going to hit me head-on.”
The thief missed the cruiser by inches and fled from the lot onto Route 75 and on to Route 20, where a state trooper spotted the car but did not maintain a chase, Bontempo said. Police around the state are subject to a policy that prohibits pursuits in cases where larceny or other non-violent crimes are the only suspected offenses.
This was the third catalytic converter theft in town this week, Bontempo said. Thieves have targeted parking lots and businesses. In the past year, a local plumbing and heating contractor has reported 26 stolen converters, Bontempo said.
The problem is nationwide, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and has been ramping up since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Metals in the pollution control equipment are valuable and can fetch several hundred dollars each.
Cops around the state have gotten increasingly familiar with the thefts.
“We’re seeing the uptick,” state police spokeswoman Sgt. Dawn Pagan said. Troopers regularly check commuter lots for catalytic converter thieves and other criminals, she said.
In Glastonbury, reported thefts of vehicle parts, mostly converters, total 26 so far this year, police spokesman Lt. Corey Davis said. The thefts have climbed from 14 cases in 2020 to a record 56 incidents last year, Davis said. If the trend continues, the total this year could reach 100, he said.
Vernon police spokesman Lt. Robert Marra noted that experienced thieves can remove a converter quickly and be gone from the scene. In Vernon and other towns, school buses have been targeted.
The “cat” thieves typically use stolen cars to make their rounds. Last month, state police investigating a fatal car crash in Manchester found stolen converters, license plates and guns amid the wreckage.
Police say they do not know where thieves are cashing in the converters, but state officials need to do something, Bontempo said, whether it’s a crackdown on scrap dealers or higher bonds for suspects or some other solution. The continuing thefts pose an imminent danger to police, he said.
“After what happened to the Farmington cop, it’s only a matter of time,” he said referring to an officer who suffered grievous injuries last year when a catalytic converter thief crushed him between the getaway car and the officer’s cruiser.
Police aren’t the only ones in danger. In January, a thief fired gunshots after a man confronted him sawing a catalytic converter off his neighbor’s car. No one was hurt.
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