How to Prevent Catalytic Converter Theft

If you operate parking lots, garages, or car dealerships, you may be responsible for catalytic converter theft prevention—and catalytic converters are stolen day and night.

The good news is that the experts at Mammoth Security have a lot of experience designing solutions for fences and other property boundaries that prevent catalytic converter theft.

We have the know-how to help you to select the best devices to identify security threats, initiate deterrence, and receive timely attention from law enforcement.

Auto-Part and Catalytic Converter Theft

Thieves often target parked cars to steal valuable auto parts, such as catalytic converters, tires, and rims, as well as expensive internal equipment, such as navigation devices, DVD players, and even airbags. 

Catalytic converters, designed to reduce air pollution from cars, are the most popular target for auto-part theft today because they contain platinum, palladium, and rhodium—precious metals that are rare and more valuable than gold. 

Countless theft rings remove these devices from parked cars in under two minutes using a simple wrench and jack. Then they sell the converters to scrap metal dealers for several hundred dollars apiece.

Other Threats to Perimeter Security

Vandalism

Graffiti and similar forms of vandalism may seem cosmetic, but they make potential customers and residents feel unsafe, and they have a negative impact on traffic patterns around commercial properties.

Cleanups after vandalism also disrupt business activities and waste valuable employee time.

Even worse, vandalism that results in broken glass, damaged equipment, or weakened structures puts people in danger and makes property owners vulnerable to lawsuits. 

Loitering

Loitering creates a public nuisance, especially when panhandlers station themselves near customer entrances and when people gather for impromptu street parties. The noise, littering, and harassment that often accompanies such events make customers feel unsafe and result in lost business. 

Avigilon Thermal Cameras

At Mammoth Security, we’re always on the lookout for security gaps and the best tools to fill them. We can tell you with confidence that Avigilon H4 thermal cameras are hands-down the best tools for long-range perimeter security and the prevention of catalytic converter theft.

By installing Avigilon H4 thermal cameras at strategic locations around your property, our crew can cover large areas of land, including fence lines, gates, and driveways, for accurate monitoring, even on rainy nights and in pitch-dark conditions. 

Thermal Imaging 

Most security cameras have severely limited viewing ranges in low-light conditions, often as few as 100 feet. But by detecting heat signatures instead of traditional light, Avigilon H4 thermal cameras have the power to identify potential threats from as far away as 600 feet—even when there’s a hail storm, the street lights have gone out, and the bad guys are sneaking up behind camouflage props.

Avigilon’s H4 thermal cameras see right through these and other challenges, which is why they’re relied on by many sectors and in many settings, including parking lots, transportation hubs, construction sites, commercial buildings, and schools. 

Presence and Motion Detection

Avigilon H4 thermal cameras are smart. 

They can be programmed to detect motion in specific zones or areas, such as along construction site fence lines and parking lot perimeters. And they can be programmed to detect specific types of activity, such as people walking, standing still, peering through gates, climbing over fences, and demonstrating behaviors associated with catalytic converter theft.

Avigilon cameras detect motion through thermal imaging, which recognizes heat signatures from bodies and objects. They then apply cutting-edge video analytics, including sophisticated deep-learning algorithms, to distinguish between human beings exhibiting suspicious behaviors, human beings not exhibiting suspicious behaviors, and other sources of heat, such as animals and vehicles.

By learning and adapting over time, these cameras continuously improve their accuracy to reduce false alarms while simultaneously preventing bad behavior from going unreported. 

Avigilon Cameras as Alarm Sensors

Avigilon H4 thermal cameras function as ideal alarm sensors for perimeter security because of their ability to detect movement in difficult conditions over large distances—including along fence lines, gates, and driveways.

By combining thermal imaging with the world’s most sophisticated AI-based analytics, these cameras are able to assess security situations so reliably that they’re trusted to export their assessments directly to alarm panels that call law enforcement.

Avigilon customers need not double-check perimeter breach reports late at night or do anything else to receive the security response they need: the cameras know what they see and can handle breaches independently.

Alarm Panel Integrations

One of the great advantages of Avigilon security systems is their use of open-source software, which allows for easy integrations with other open-source systems. 

This means that Avigilon H4 thermal cameras installed for motion detection and perimeter security can be connected with security alarm panels and deterrence devices (like sirens and strobe lights) produced by many other manufacturers.

Other Perimeter Security Tools

Our team at Mammoth Security provides other tools to prevent crimes like trespassing, vandalism, and catalytic converter theft. 

Access Control Gates

In many cases, it’s possible to implement electronic access control locking systems for perimeter security.

Electronic access gates prevent crimes like catalytic converter theft by requiring the input of PIN codes or the presentation of authentic ID credentials before access is allowed. These systems deter criminals from attempting entry in the first place, and they make successful breach attempts and stolen catalytic converter incidents rare.

Remote Security Monitoring

Any IP security camera our team installs, including cameras that aren’t made by Avigilon, can be connected to our remote monitoring security service. Our service keeps remote guards on camera duty 24/7  and uses specialized video management software with artificial intelligence to ensure that no unwanted activities escape their notice. 

Between the AI software and the live security guards, you can rest easy at night and on holidays knowing that our remote monitoring service will take appropriate action whenever threats are detected. 

For example, our monitors may initiate highly effective deterrence tools like sirens and strobe lights to chase off intruders. And when deterrence tools don’t work, they can initiate rapid police responses by providing eyewitness accounts of the crimes they witness through the cameras we install.

If you follow these tips and have the proper parking lot security, you should minimize catalytic converter theft on your property. Contact us for a free site audit to determine your needs in securing your parking lots and cars.