The automotive technology program is teaming up with the police department at Metropolitian Community College's Longview campus to stop catalytic converter thefts.
Students in the automotive tech program will be etching VIN numbers on catalytic converters beginning Friday, April 26. Anyone can have the service done for free. They call the program "Etch and Catch."
Thieves like to target parking lots that are full of cars, and after they steal converters, they typically try to sell them for small amounts of precious metals, including platinum, palladium, or rhodium. Some converters can be sold on the black market for hundreds of dollars.
A skilled thief can steal a catalytic converter in less than a minute, and they are expensive to replace.