BOULDER, Colo. — In February, a thief stole the catalytic converter of Bill Enyart’s car while inside the parking garage at the Table Mesa Park-N-Ride in Boulder.
Shortly after that theft, Enyart spoke to Denver7 Investigates and questioned why the Regional Transportation District did not have more security cameras inside the garages or signs posted alerting people to the threat.
In April, Denver7 Investigates learned through data from the Boulder Police Department that Enyart was one of88 victims of catalytic converter theft over the past year. Since then, 13 more catalytic converter thefts have occurred in that parking lot, per Boulder PD data.
However, Enyart is upset that RTD still has not made any security adjustments to that Park-N Ride garage in Boulder to prevent these thefts, where criminals only need roughly 15 seconds to get away with a catalytic converter.
“It’s just negligent,” Enyart said. “I don’t know what it takes to make them take action.”
In April, Denver7 Investigates spoke to RTD Acting Chief of Police Steven Martingano, who said he did not know the number of thefts reported at the Table Mesa Park-N-Ride, but that they would redeploy resources.
In Thornton, 16 miles from that RTD garage, Jonathan Bridgers found he had a problem at the Amazon Distribution Center he manages.
“We realized we had a problem with catalytic converters in that parking lot,” he said. “We had a day where multiple got stolen."
Bridgers responded with additional security cameras and new warning signs to thieves and directed the security team to watch closely for suspicious activity.
“Since putting them in place, we have not had a single catalytic converter stolen from our parking lot,” he said.
Denver7 Investigates asked Boulder police for updated data on catalytic converter thefts at RTD’s Table Mesa Park-N-Ride. The data shows 13 new catalytic converter thefts since our first report back in April.
Diane Winters is one of the 13 new victims at the Table Mesa Park-N-Ride.
“It’s surprising something hasn’t been done before now,” she said.
RTD declined an interview request about the lack of changes at the Table Mesa Park-N-Ride, providing a statement instead.
"RTD Transit Police continues to collaborate and remain in close communications with the Boulder and Denver Police Departments, as well as other police departments in the metro area. In April, the RTD Transit Police Division realigned its security personnel into impact teams dedicated to specific transit modes, such as bus or rail, and to specific outreach functions. Following a data-driven approach based on crime analysis allows for security personnel to be deployed in the areas of greatest need.
The Community Outreach Police Impact Team meets with local law enforcement agencies throughout the metro area. Most recently in Boulder County, the impact team met with the Boulder Police Department on June 17 at Table Mesa Park-n-Ride and on June 13 with the Louisville Police Department at US36•McCaslin Park-n-Ride to discuss security enhancements.
Next steps are working with local governments about upgrading signage to include police phone numbers and continuing extra patrols to areas of need.
Additionally, RTD has produced catalytic converter tip cards and distributes them to individuals at various locations and events.
RTD encourages the public to download its free Transit Watch app to directly communicate with RTD Police Dispatch if they see suspicious behavior or activity. Resources will then be dispatched to the area."
For Enyart, he wants to see more action on RTD’s part.
“They are just not doing their job,” he said. “I didn’t hear any hard facts about what they are actually implementing to stop the crime right here.”
