Palm Springs Police Chief Warns About Vehicle Theft & Vehicle Parts Theft

Car thief, car theft

Photo: Getty Images

A heads-up from the Police Chief in Palm Springs.

Tom Ceccarelli says crooks are stealing catalytic converters right off of vehicles.

"They take it for the precious metals inside and they sell the parts from it."

He tells us this is something that's been a problem in the past, and mainly high profile vehicles are targeted.

"It doesn't happen continually but somehow we go in trends."

The chief speculates that the cost of the precious metals may be rising in price, making it lucrative to steal the parts again.

The owners of two Honda Elements were recently victimized.

Ceccarelli's advice?

"When you're gonna park in big parking lots, try to park in well-lit areas because usually they don't it during the day it's usually at night."

He's also warning about cars being stolen from people who leave them running while they run into gas stations and convenient stores.

"This happens more than you think and this is something that's not hard to tell people how to avoid. Just don't leave your car running."

Chief Ceccarelli also shares details about the police department's Thanksgiving food drive with Palm Beach Harvest, which you can hear in the audio player above.


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