Catalytic converter thefts are dropping across N.B. Here's why.

Warmer weather used to mean sleepless nights for Kyle MacKinnon, the owner of Lincoln Auto Shop. His eyes used to be stuck on his security cameras all night to keep watch for catalytic converter thieves. 

But so far this year, he has been able to get a good night's sleep. 

Catalytic converter thefts are down in Fredericton this year compared to last year, according to Fredericton police, and MacKinnon has noticed it too. 

"Knock on wood, this year we haven't had any issues. It seems like it's been better this year, and I'm getting my sleep."

In Fredericton, no thefts have been reported to date in 2024, compared with 44 last year, police said.

So far in Saint John, four catalytic converter thefts have been reported this year, compared with 30 the year before, according to Saint John police.

Cpl. Hans Ouellette, a spokesperson for the New Brunswick RCMP, said in an email that there have been 13 instances of catalytic converter theft reported so far in 2024, compared to 139 in all of 2023.

Codiac RCMP reported three catalytic converter thefts in 2024 so far. The Moncton region had 28 reported thefts in 2023. 

Mackinnon said he lost almost $11,000 last year because of the thefts of catalytic converters, which control emissions from a vehicle.

He said the reason for the decrease could be the new rules for salvage dealers introduced last year.

Public Safety Minister Kris Austin introduced amendments to the Salvage Dealers Licensing Act in October 2023 to make it harder to sell stolen catalytic converters and other commonly stolen goods, such as plumber's lead, brass valves, copper, lead flashing and copper wire. 

Amendments included doubling fines for salvage dealers who don't comply, and prohibiting salvage dealers from paying cash for catalytic converters or other high-theft items. 

Instead, they need to pay by cheque, e-transfer or another traceable method.

Salvage dealers are also required to record a government-issued identification document for high-theft items, along with registration information about the vehicle from which the catalytic converter was removed.

"Now [thieves] don't have a way to just go sell them," Mackinnon said. "There were always still a couple of the scrap places that were well-known that would still buy them under the table … but they have slowed down on that as well, by the sounds of it."

Tyler Mierzwa, a master's student in criminology at Simon Fraser University who focuses on catalytic converter and other metal theft, says the fall of metal prices could be another reason thieves are opting not to steal catalytic converters. 

"When they go down in price, they're not as profitable to steal and exchange at metal dealers. So thieves go on to other things that are more profitable," said Mierzwa.

Criminals steal catalytic converters because they contain small amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium. 

Prices for all three metals began climbing in 2020 and 2021 before levelling off — or, in the case of rhodium, plummeting about 80 per cent from a high in March 2021 of almost $30,000 US per troy ounce, the measure used in weights of precious metals.

Mierzwa said the price drop is deep enough that it just doesn't make sense for criminals to target catalytic converters.

It takes "a decent amount of risk to steal a catalytic converter. It's loud, you're often confronted, or you have the risk of being caught at the metal dealer," Mierzwa said.

"When the profits just aren't there … the risk just outweighs the reward."

Metal prices can change, but MacKinnon hopes thefts stay down, partly so he can sleep well at night.  

"I'll say knock on wood a million times because like it's, it's so stressful. And once it starts, you know that once one of them figures it out, they're going to all do it."