A nationwide crime trend plaguing car owners has gained renewed focus amid the unsolved killing of \"General Hospital\" actor Johnny Wactor who was gunned down when he caught thieves in Los Angeles ripping off the catalytic converter of his Toyota Prius.
The automotive part meant to reduce smog caused by combustion engines has become a preferred target for criminals as the prices of the precious metals inside the component -- rhodium, platinum and palladium -- have skyrocketed in recent years.
Download Pdf Converter Free
DOWNLOAD 🔥 https://bltlly.com/2yGcfY 🔥
Jim McDonnell, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff, told ABC News the quick money thieves are getting on the black market for the part outweighs the risk of getting caught because penalties have been historically low and the priority law enforcement agencies place on such crimes takes a back seat to violent crime.
\"There's an incentive there, and if the consequences that they can look forward to don't outweigh the risk that they're going to take, certainly they're going to go after that kind of thing,\" said McDonnell, now the director of the Safe Communities Institue, a public safety think tank at the University of Southern California.
The 37-year-old Wactor was fatally shot around 3:25 a.m. PT on Saturday when he interrupted three people, wearing masks and dressed in black, who had his car up on a floor jack and were attempting to steal its catalytic converter, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Wactor's death came about two years after off-duty Harris County, Texas, Sheriff's Deputy Darren Almendarez, 51, was gunned down in front of his wife in a similar incident. Almendarez was fatally shot while trying to stop three thieves from stealing his truck's catalytic converter in a grocery store parking lot, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Department. Three suspects in Almendarez's slaying were arrested and charged with capital murder. They all pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Several suspected catalytic converter thieves have also been killed in confrontations with car owners. In April 2023, a suspected thief was stabbed to death in the Los Angeles suburb of South El Monte by a homeowner armed with a kitchen knife who confronted three suspects in his driveway trying to steal his vehicle's catalytic converter, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Between 2020 and 2022, more than 24,000 vehicles in California had their catalytic converters stolen, the most in the nation, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Texas followed California with more than 8,000 catalytic converters ripped off.
In 2022, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Comprehensive Catalytic Converter Theft law, requiring new car dealers to supply a catalytic converter serial number etching kit and creating a statewide database to track the sale and recycling of catalytic converters at scrap yards. In June 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Deputy Darren Almendarez Act, making catalytic converter theft a felony and increasing the penalty for perpetrators who use firearms when stealing a device.
In February 2023, the bipartisan Preventing Auto Recycling Thefts Act was introduced in Congress, which, if passed, would make it a federal crime to steal, sell or traffic in stolen catalytic converters.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also taken action. In November 2022, the DOJ announced the takedown of a nationwide catalytic converter theft ring and the arrests of 21 suspects in California, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia.
\"This national network of criminals hurt victims across the country, FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time. \"They made hundreds of millions of dollars in the process -- on the backs of thousands of innocent car owners.\"
Actions taken by states and federal officials to deal with the problem appear to be working. The National Insurance Crime Bureau told ABC News that catalytic converter theft dropped 57% nationwide in 2023 from 2022. However, the numbers are still higher than they were before the start of the pandemic.
McDonnell said victims of catalytic converter theft have to pay up to $3,000 to replace a stolen catalytic converter. He said hybrid vehicles, which come with two catalytic converters, can cost more to repair if both parts are stolen.
McDonnell said people could do things to safeguard their vehicles' catalytic converters, like installing special cages or clamps around the devices to make them tamper-resistant or parking their cars in a garage. However, they can be expensive.
Hello everyone, I'm currently on the lookout for a reliable YouTube to MP3 converter that works smoothly on Windows 11. I need a tool that can efficiently download and convert videos without compromising on the audio quality. Ideally, it would be great if the software also offers some flexibility with file formats and quality settings. Does anyone have recommendations for software that is particularly well-suited for Windows 11?
[Update May 19 ] Please stop replying. I am already using AllClipDown, one stop solution for all downloads and conversions. Best program I chanced upon so far. I would like to thank Kovacic590 for the recommendation.
I've actually used SYSCute AllClipDown Video Downloader myself quite a bit, and it's super reliable. It lets you tweak the quality settings to get just the right audio quality you need. Another one I've tried is YTD Video Downloader; it's pretty straightforward and offers a good mix of format options. Both are solid picks, especially if you're running Windows 11 and want something that's both user-friendly and effective.
For converting YouTube videos into MP3s on Windows 11, you might want to check out online tools and browser extensions, here are a couple of recommendations that work directly in your browser without needing to install software: It's pretty slick for this sort of thing. You can grab videos and convert them without losing audio quality, and it gives you some nice options for file formats and quality settings too.
Y2Mate - This is an online service where you can just paste the YouTube URL and choose from various audio and video formats, including MP3. It's pretty straightforward and doesn't require any installation.
SaveFrom.net Helper - This is a browser extension that integrates directly into your web browsing experience. It adds a download button directly to the YouTube page, making it super easy to convert videos to MP3 right from your browser. It supports several browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
If you are interested in using online tools, you can try Ytmp3. It's still working for me at the moment. and I use it as a safe YouTube to MP3 converter software for Windows 11. It supports various quality settings (from 64 kbps to 256 kbps).
There are may ways to convert Youtube video to MP3 on your windows 11, you can use YouTube to mp3 converter or try audio recorder, As far as I know, Audacity is a free, open-source audio editing and recording tool. You can configure it to record from your speakers by setting them as the input source. While this setup ensures your security, it requires some manual effort, such as initiating and stopping the recording, as well as trimming any silence at the beginning and end of the recording.
Are you sure about using Audacity to convert YouTube videos to MP3 on Windows 11? Audacity's conversion speed is relatively slow compared to dedicated video conversion software. This can be frustrating if you're dealing with large video files.
If you need a reliable yet free YouTube to MP3 converter that works well on Windows 11, you could use the command-line tool youtube-dl. It's quite efficient for downloading videos and converting YouTube video to MP3 without compromising on audio quality. You can specify the output format and adjust the quality settings as needed. To use youtube-dl:
While these sites are effective, it's essential to use them responsibly and ensure that your downloads comply with copyright laws. Additionally, always be cautious about online security when using such services, as even reputable sites can occasionally have security issues or intrusive ads.
Youtube now is a popular place to find the all kinds of music videos. Hence, many people want to download mp3 music from YB. However, it is really challenging to find a reliable youtube to mp3 converter because the search result is filled up by garbage online websites. You might get your computer easily hacked when using their service. Desktop software is more safe as it would be flagged by Windows Defender if there were any virus or malware with it. So I suggest going with desktop youtube to mp3 converter for security concern.
AllMyTube is a powerful and user-friendly video downloader and converter that makes it easy to capture and play your favorite videos anywhere, anytime. With AllMyTube, you can download videos from youtube in just a few clicks.
@Takala1025 youtube-dl and ffmpeg can be used as a free youtube to mp3 converter. youtube-dl is responsible for downloading videos from youtube and ffmpeg is for converting videos to mp3. They are pure command line tools and no gui. Hence, it is not the ideal tool for newbies. In fact, many video downloading software can directly download youtube video as mp3. You can try them out based on the above recommendation.
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device which converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually used with internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline or diesel, including lean-burn engines, and sometimes on kerosene heaters and stoves. 152ee80cbc
vallavan movie simbu mobile ringtone download
short mystery stories free download