Motorists urged to be vigilant when parking cars due to theft of catalytic converters Reporter: '); '); There number of incidents in which catalytic converters have been stolen from cars has more than doubled in recent months compared to 2019 prompting gardaí to promote a public awareness campaign. According to figures released at the recent Kildare Joint Policing Committee meeting, crimes of interfering with the mechanism of a vehicle jumped by 140% from 5 between September and December 2019 to 12 for the same period in 2020. Gardaí say the increase in thefts of the car parts is a reflection of the rise in price of palladium and rhodium metals.