The group caught in San Diego (caught with a house full of catalytic converters) were only charged for having a slide they'd stolen from a local park. Slap on the wrist.
A lot of non violent crime is not being pursued at this time, besides these thefts. It's a broader trend.
Taxes go up, services go down. Why? Just never enough money to govern somehow in California...
Clearly, it's an impoverished state.
(If we measured by more than money in common thinking, that isn't even sarcasm)
This case had a stolen slide, discovered while police were looking for stolen cats. Also they were not charged with the theft of the stolen goods found. It happened in Burbank WA though.
Uh
I know a filmmaker in Oakland who had thousands of dollars of electronics stolen from their car (and receipts/insurance to prove the value of the electronics). One of the items stolen was an iPad that was phoning its location home, the filmmaker tried to direct the Oakland police to the house with the stolen iPad (itself worth >$950 dollars) but the police said they didn't think the case would stick and declined to go address the situation.
It may be 'in fact' that theft over $950 is a felony that police should take seriously, but in practice, it's really rare to see a thief prosecuted.
So if someone steals your catalytic converter, don't just call the police. Show up at the city council and make a stink.
PS: Shout out to the Norco CA sheriff's department. That was a police department that actually POLICED. They would investigate the heck out of property crime.
It seems to me that CARB forces people to buy OEM parts, or at least some kind of on-a-list part for $$$.
I wonder if shops will still install used (stolen) units regardless? Or maybe they are just being shipped out of state or broken down for raw materials.
The one thing that's fairly hard to get around is the biannual inspection.
In days of yore, a box of donuts could get someone to hot pipe your car. Now, not so much. It was kind of a necessity if you owned a car that wouldn't pass even in absolutely pristine new condition.