Edmonton, Alberta – Edmonton Police services has offered $50,000 to anyone able to come up with a feasible solution to the prevalence of catalytic converter theft across the province.
The reward is being offered in conjunction with Millennium Insurance Corporation and the Edmonton Police Foundation.
“Most people have no idea what a catalytic converter is until it missing,” said Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee.
“It’s a crime of opportunity that takes place within a matter of minutes.”
The rise in catalytic converter theft seems to directly coincide with the rise in the price of precious metals.
The price of Rhodium, a key metal contained within catalytic converters, has risen from $1,000 an ounce to nearly $14,000 an ounce in the last five years.
“A lot of people, I think, do target specific vehicles because they know they’ll get more money for that vehicle’s catalytic converter when they take it into a scrap metal dealer…” said director of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Alberta, Paul Gregory.
There were nearly 5000 thefts of catalytic converters in 2021, with approximately 2700 of them occurring in Edmonton.
“This is a multimillion-dollar problem that costs Edmontonians nearly $13 million a year,” said McFee.
McFee believes that a “game changer” is needed to combat this crime.
“Certainly there’s something out there that can be done to take away the crime of opportunity…” says McFee.
“I mean, if it takes longer to do because you have something that’s been invented, it’s a better chance of getting caught.”
The solution to the problem is an open ended one. Potential fixes to the issue could be long-term or short-term, with technology involved or not.
“Think about it, once the solution works, and you’ve got your first customer in Edmonton, guess what? “They can sell that solution around the world.” said Ashif Mawji, Chairman of the Edmonton Police Foundation.
Potential applicants for the challenge can find more information at herox.com/catalytic.
The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30.
