The Minnesota Senate voted Thursday to make it harder for thieves to sell stolen catalytic converters, a crime that has skyrocketed across the country in recent years.
Thefts of the pollution control devices from cars and trucks more than quadrupled from 3,389 in 2019 to 14,433 in 2020, and jumped dramatically again in 2021 to over 52,000, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. A major reason is the sharp rise in prices for the precious metals that go into the converters, such as rhodium, platinum and palladium. And experts say many thefts aren't covered by insurance, so they go unreported.
