Chicago — Even the Chicago Police Department’s mounted unit is not safe from the city’s roving bands of catalytic converter thieves. The horse-riding coppers were sidelined on Friday after criminals sawed the catalytic converters off of five trucks and SUVs that they use to transport themselves and their mounts across the city.
Officers discovered the thefts on Friday morning at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 South South Shore, which serves as the unit’s home base.
A source familiar with the incident said catalytic converters were stolen from a Ford F350 pickup truck and four of the department’s Ford Excursion SUVs in the Cultural Center parking lot sometime Thursday night or early Friday.
The thieves left several saw blades behind.
All of the vehicles are clearly marked with Chicago Police Department paint jobs and bear police license plates.
