MCC Daily Tribune

Important Notice from MCC Public Safety

There has been an influx in catalytic converter thefts occurring all across the country. These types of larcenies (auto stripping) are crimes of opportunity, and usually occur in broad daylight.  We have had three incidents on our campus already – two at the Brighton Campus and one at the Downtown Campus.

The M.O. of the suspect is to locate a target vehicle (usually an SUV or pick-up truck) that is easy to crawl under and is often parked in a parking lot adjacent to an empty parking space.  Suspects look for large parking lots with SUVs and trucks with very little pedestrian traffic.  The suspect will park next to the target vehicle so to shield themselves from being noticed, will crawl under the target vehicle and within a minute, cut away the catalytic converter and flee the scene. In many cases the suspects are bold enough to simply pull up behind a target vehicle and proceed to steal the converter.

This type of theft is low-risk/easy money for suspects, and therefore it is becoming very common in the Rochester area. Suspects are not deterred by populated areas because they can be in and out within seconds.

Best practice for us is to always be on the lookout for suspicious activity near vehicles, and notify Public Safety immediately (292-2911 or X2911 on an internal phone) if you suspect anything out of the ordinary.

Raymond Sprague
Interim Assistant Chief of Public Safety
04/25/2022