“possible attempt to steal catalytic converters”
Seems to me we should pass a law that companies that buy and salvage copper and catalytic convertors should have a federal license to engage in that and if caught doing that without the permit would have their business confiscated and face heavy fines and jail time.
Only a few years ago when there was an epidemic of stolen catalytic converters, there WAS talk of penalties for anyone buying them from the thieves. Guess that all died down - out of sight - out of mind.
“Golly Dontavious, I see you have another 40 catalytic converters today. You sure have bad luck with your car.”
But what happens is... There are companies that buy old cats at auction and have machines that cut the case open and crush the platinum matrix in to a powder. There might be a way to put serial numbers on cats but that won’t stop the recyclers from just pressing them in to powder leaving it untraceable.