BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Maintenance is underway on multiple First Student school buses after they were hit by catalytic converter thefts.
Brooklyn Park Police said someone broke into a bus lot and stole 10 catalytic converters from the buses over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Inspector Elliot Faust said the thieves not only had the luxury of time but also ease of access.
"Buses being higher off the ground, you can slide right underneath there easily cut the cat converters off and you got it—don’t have to jack the car up," he said.
According to First Student, the company that owns the buses, all school bus routes were covered on Monday, Nov. 28, and "operations ran smoothly other than a few routes that ran approximately 10-15 minutes late."
Faust added that the issue around catalytic converter thefts has been chronic and consistent in the area, with 350 catalytic converters stolen this year alone.
"That’s 350 vehicles that someone went out to in the morning and found out they don’t have an exhaust system anymore. So it’s a big impact, if you look at our map, our crime map, and look at where these are all happening, it’s throughout the entire city," he said.
And unfortunately, holding thieves accountable in these cases can be tough.
"We don’t have a lot of success in the investigation either, because a lot of times when they're stolen there's no surveillance footage. Or maybe the person is wearing a mask, we can't identify them so we just haven’t had a lot of luck with it," Faust said. "I guess the approach we’ve taken is an educational approach, get the message out to the public, be aware of what’s going on."
Anyone with information on the school bus theft should contact Brooklyn Park Police.
Osseo Area School District's spokesperson said once they were aware of the situation, they sent out messaging to impacted families, which involved families with middle and elementary school children.
They said they were able to narrow down which families would be affected, as they knew which bus numbers were going to be out of commission.
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