Falls Police continue to see an uptick in catalytic converter thefts. Under a newly revised ordinance that the Falls Township Supervisors adopted Monday it will be more difficult for scrap yards and pawn shops to fence stolen goods, including the popular vehicle part.
Meant to plug a hole in the township’s existing ordinance related to pawn shops and secondhand shops, the updated version requires Falls Township businesses – including scrap yards – to have the same requirements as pawn shops for reporting items that customers bring in for reselling purposes. The idea is that by notifying the police when goods come in, potential victims of theft have time to recover their stolen property.
“This is already in place for pawn shops,” Supervisors Chairman Jeff Dence said. “They have to notify police and wait a certain number of days before they list it for sale to cut down on thievery.”
The catalyst for updating the ordinance came when Dence heard a radio advertisement for a New Jersey scrap yard that accepted catalytic converters.
“There’s no reason a business would be advertising that,” Dence said. “Unless they’re stolen catalytic converters.”
Catalytic converters have become popular among thieves given the precious metals that can be harvested from the automobile part and cashed in for big returns.
Rhodium, platinum, and palladium are the three metals in catalytic converters. Rhodium, which was worth about $650 per ounce in 2016, surged to about $3,000 per ounce by the end of 2019 and is now worth more than $10,000 per ounce, according to Moneymetals.com. Palladium jumped from $500 per ounce in 2016 to more than $2,000 currently, while platinum stayed consistent in value at just over $1,000 per ounce.
Falls Township’s ordinance amendment is aimed at reducing the number of stolen goods – metals in particular – being resold at salvage yards and pawn shops.
“This started a few years ago,” Dence said of regulations in force in Burlington, N.J., which requires “every pawn shop to hold items for several days.”
The ordinance updates the definition of a precious metal dealer. In addition, it expands the definition of precious metal to include various types, including rhodium, ruthenium, as well as alloys.
In other business, the board voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance to prohibit the burning of recyclable material, including aluminum, bimetal containers, ferrous containers, glass, magazines, newspapers, plastics, or any other recyclable material.
As part of Falls Township’s annual recycling grant program with DEP, it’s required that the township adopt an ordinance prohibiting the burning of recyclable materials, according to attorney Mike Clarke.
