Edmonton police announce catalytic converter theft prevention winners
Posted January 27, 2023 3:28 pm.
Last Updated January 28, 2023 9:06 am.
Two Edmonton women have won $25,000 dollars by potentially solving the scourge of catalytic converter theft.
The goal of the contest, which began last summer, was to create a deterrent to thefts.
The winners — mother and daughter Mavis Shaw and Tamara Dolinsky’s idea called the ‘foil-em-fence’ came to life after Dolinsky had the catalytic converter stolen off her own vehicle.
“So it’s a fence that prevents people from getting under the vehicle — but again — it’s very visible so hopefully thieves will see it and not even bother getting out of the car,” explained Dolinsky.
RELATED: Worldwide challenge: $50K to solve problem of catalytic converter thefts
Edmonton police told media Friday there is a patent pending for the design so they weren’t willing to show the device.
In total, $50,000 was split among the top three winners and Edmonton police received submissions from around the world.
The second-place winner is also from Edmonton. They took home $15,000 for their design, a strap making it difficult to steal the converters.
Third place is a team from Florida, who won $10,000 for a plan to etch serial numbers on catalytic converters.
“It’s a world problem and now this allows us to look at it from multiple angles,” said Dale McFee. “I’m not surprised it’s a huge huge economic problem.”
Earlier this week, Edmonton police announced they seized 700 catalytic converters along with guns and drugs from a metal recycler.
READ MORE: New fines laid in connection to drug and catalytic converter trafficking operation
Some municipalities in Alberta have brought in by-laws with tough penalties for anyone caught with or selling stolen converters.
Two years ago the province passed legislation tightening requirements on scrap metal dealing. Provincial investigators say they’re talking with provincial lawmakers on changes.
“There’s always room for improvement in relation to the legislation and I have been speaking with the government of Alberta,” said Paul Gregory, Criminal Intelligence Service of Alberta. “It’s still early to tell exactly what’s going to happen however we are looking at potentially making some amendments to the legislation to bolster that going forward.”
