[whimsicalism]

My comment was confusing so let me address what you are saying:

1. This is a very recent thing I am discussing, the fencers were only arrested in the beginning of 2023 and the thefts have fallen in 2023, specifically second half. This should be available in more fine-grained crime stats or simply by looking at like google trends of catalytic converter replacement searches.

2. Crime is much lower than in the 20th century, but I agree there has been a post-pandemic upshift.

e: found some news articles https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-catalytic-...

this trend is after they busted a billion dollar auto parts company for being heavily involved in fencing these parts, seized 500 million dollars, and other anti-fencing provisions were made

[autoexec]

> this trend is after they busted a billion dollar auto parts company for being heavily involved in fencing these parts

Do you mean DG Auto Parts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020–2022_catalytic_converter_...) or is there another auto parts chain I should avoid.

[whimsicalism]

Ah yes, that's the one. Misremembered the apprehension date slightly. There have been subsequent arrests in the Bay Area of people who were part of the supply chain for this group.