For years thieves have been taking the catalytic converters from vehicles by crawling under them and using battery-operated saws to cut them off. The money that these crooks receive from the sale of what they take is substantially less than the cost to the victims. It is bad enough when our news media reports these incidents and teaches hundreds of people another way to become criminals.

To add insult to injury they are now teaching us how to steal gasoline from vehicles with locking gas caps or fuel cap covers. They tell us that they are warning us to park our cars and trucks in our garages. As the young people used to say, “Duh.” Is that really needed?

If you had a garage that was clean enough to park in, why would you not already be keeping your wheels there? The best thing that the news could tell us is that if you see someone crawling in or out from under a vehicle, pull out your phone. Take a picture of the car. If you can, photograph the person without putting yourself in danger. Call the police and report it.

Whether it is in your neighborhood, a parking lot, or something your security camera caught, you should report it. The next one who is victimized by these scumbags might be you. I know that you are thinking this is a misdemeanor and little will be done to them, but our legislatures should be changing laws.

The value of a stolen item should not be the criteria to measure the impact of the crime. Any action that disables a vehicle or home or prevents someone from earning a living should be viewed from the point of view of the victims. This means that the actual value of repair is the cost of the crime.

If you drill a hole in my fuel tank and steal five gallons from me, you may cost me a day of work. If I drop a lit cigarette outside my car and it starts a fire, you should be held responsible for my injury or death or the destruction of my home. You did not intend to do this. What did you think the result of spreading gasoline on concrete, asphalt, or a gravel drive would be?

The only way to prevent these criminals from continuing to victimize others is to increase the punishment for their actions. Congressmen and Senators do not punish for the crime. Make the punishment fit the crime. If a potential catastrophe could be prevented by stopping the crime, then make the fine, imprisonment, or punishment as severe as if the worst that could happen, did happen.

Lawmakers, pull your heads out of the sand or wherever you keep them. Make the laws that your constituents need to protect them and their property. You will never solve the problem of violent crimes until you stop petty thefts. That may mean passing a law to put your own families in jail for your family businesses.

Let me elaborate on that last line. Business owners who purchase stolen goods need to be prosecuted more severely. They make money from items they purchase from thieves and should know that someone that returns every ten days with a new supply of the same type of goods is not completely honest.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger