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Last week’s cover story plumbed a mystery that has vexed Portlanders for the better part of two years: Who is stealing so many catalytic converters, and what are they doing with them? Our investigation tracked auto parts stolen in Beaverton across the country to a Long Island storehouse and a New Jersey metal recycler (“From Portland to Jersey,” WW, Nov. 30). Police detectives and documents from “Operation Heavy Metal” allege that the Oregon ringleader of the trafficking ring was a former Uber driver operating out of a rental home on the shores of Oswego Lake. Here’s what our readers had to say:
Sarah Jeong, via Twitter: “Cannot emphasize enough how funny it is that the epicenter of the Portland ~ crime epidemic ~ is Lake Oswego.”
Adulations, via Reddit: “I’m from Brooklyn, N.Y. This sounds like some mob shit.”
rontrussler58, in reply: “Yeah, word gets out when a major metro area doesn’t have law enforcement. Things are going to get worse in Portland if we don’t come down hard on these folks. Homeless people are an aesthetic problem more than they are a safety issue, but the amount of straight-up criminals roaming the streets of Portland is alarming. We shouldn’t lump them in together because even if we housed everyone, the crime ain’t going anywhere without a concerted effort by local, state and federal authorities.”
Wim de Vriend, via wweek.com: “This the best, most informative investigative piece I’ve seen in WW. I couldn’t even find more than one grammatical error, either.”
16semesters, via Reddit: “This guy is morally bankrupt.
“He didn’t rip off a big business, he stole from the working class, and working poor of Portland. He didn’t just take things worth money, he made people be late for work, school, miss events because they had to get their car fixed. Imagine you’re late for work, just scraping by, and you discover your cat was sawed off and stolen? How much harm did this guy create in the mental well-being on the community so he could go to Bali and drive a shitty big truck?
“This guy is the lowest of low. There’s nothing morally gray or another side to look at. He is pure filth and I hope he never has a restful night of sleep the rest of his life.”
rapacity, via wweek.com: “This bust is the same as going undercover to bust street walkers than promoting it as they are stopping minor sex trafficking. A political move because police can’t actually keep up with the real thieves and are looking to make a big splash to distract us from reality.
“Convertor theft was still increasing until cold weather began setting in, and even still it’s slightly up from last year. This is a real issue, but journalism isn’t about just bootlicking and pretending like the problem disappeared.”
Roy Hemmingway, via wweek.com: “This would have been an easy crime to bust through stings, if the Portland Police Bureau had been adequately staffed. [Mayor Ted] Wheeler let the retirement crisis brew until PPB had fewer police per 1,000 people (less than 1.2) than comparable cities. The average is 2.4. If your catalytic converter gets stolen in Portland, blame Wheeler and the feckless City Council.”
Ethan Corey, via Twitter: “This is a fascinating illustration of the limits of focusing on low-level arrests to stop street crime: More than one-quarter of catalytic converter thefts in Portland were associated with one guy’s fencing operation.”
Breadloafs, via Reddit: “‘Operation Heavy Metal’ is a good name, and I bet whoever brought that one up was the coolest guy in the conference room for, like, four minutes.”
LETTERS to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: PO Box 10770, Portland OR, 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com
