(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart unveiled a new tool this week to help deter the ongoing and costly theft of catalytic converters from automobiles.
His office is using new technology to etch vehicle identification numbers, or VINs, onto catalytic converters.
Dart said the etched VIN will allow police to trace a recovered stolen catalytic converter back to an owner.
“Illinois is the fourth-largest state for theft of catalytic converters,” Dart told WBBM Newsradio. “Just in Chicago alone, the last three years it’s been just a very, very steady increase every year.”
The Sheriff’s Office will now perform the service free of charge to pre-registered motorists at community events in the coming weeks and months across the county. The first one is Thursday in Chicago’s 11th Ward.
Since 2021, the sheriff’s office has offered free spray-painting of the auto part at community events. The florescent paint, which includes a sheriff’s star, is intended to prevent the parts from being sold to recyclers.
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram