‘They’re grinches:’ Edmonton food bank has catalytic converter stolen from delivery trucks

At 2:30 a.m. Saturday, two Edmonton food bank trucks were damaged during their busiest week, getting hampers to families in need.

This comes amid a rise in catalytic converter thefts.

“We’re all tired, it’s been a long haul these last couple of years already. And then this is the grinch on top of that Christmas tree!” expressed Tamisan Bencz-Knight, spokesperson for Edmonton’s Food Bank.

“The simplest thing I can ask, please don’t steal from the food bank, we’re here to help you, please help us in return.”

When the trucks didn’t start, the food bank knew what to do, they’ve already had their catalytic converters stolen — multiple times this year alone.

The catalytic converter is a piece of a vehicle’s exhaust system that can get a couple hundred dollars at the scrap yard and often costs thousands to replace.

“When I have to make a decision, saying I would like to buy more eggs, I would like to buy more milk, I would like to buy more food, or have a new depot delivery and we don’t have that money, because we are using it on something that was already fixed, months before,” Bencz-Knight says.

Late last year, Alberta made it so those looking to sell a catalytic converter have to show ID and have it logged with law enforcement. But Edmonton Police say despite this deterrent, they’ve seen an increase of 900 per cent over three years of reported catalytic converter thefts.

EPS added in a statement, “in 2020, a total of 1,626 thefts of the exhaust emission control devices (catalytic converters) were reported to the Edmonton Police Service. With 1,701 incidents reported to police through the first three quarters of 2021.”

Due to a similar trend south of Edmonton in Leduc, the city and RCMP have teamed up. Select shops will etch the last eight digits of your VIN number on your converter to help police in laying charges if it is stolen.

“Leduc RCMP have seen an increase in stolen catalytic converters from 29 reports in 2019, to 106 reports of stolen catalytic converters in 2020. So far for 2021, we have received 150 reports of stolen catalytic converters with the type of vehicle most targeted being a various types of truck,” said Leduc RCMP in a statement.

“Officers of Leduc RCMP Detachment have, on many occasions, found suspects with catalytic converters in their possession; however, we have been unable to prove they were stolen or return them to their rightful owners due to a lack of identifying information connecting them to the rightful owner.”

Edmonton’s food bank is doing what it can to prevent future thefts, from installing lights where their trucks are parked and increasing security.

“Those two grinches, they didn’t ruin Christmas for us here at the food bank because of our community! People stepped up, people were understanding,” explained Bencz-Knight.

The food bank was able to distribute all their donations with borrowed Uhaul trucks and got help getting their vehicles back up and running Wednesday.