RPD wants you to paint your catalytic converter

Police departments from around the region want you to get your car’s catalytic converter painted.

What's happening: Departments hope that marking the pricey car parts with paint will make them less desirable to thieves, who crawl under cars and cut them off in the middle of the night.

What they're saying: "The idea of adding these markings is to quickly identify converters that may have been stolen. Then, if the converter is taken to a metal yard or the culprit is stopped by police in any surrounding jurisdiction, we literally may catch thieves 'red-handed.'" RPD said in a statement.

The police departments partnered with Midas to do the painting for free. Registration is required.

• Residents of different jurisdictions are being assigned different colors: pink for Richmond, yellow for Hanover, red for Henrico and green for Chesterfield.

By the numbers: So far this year, 638 catalytic converters have been stolen from cars in Henrico, and 566 were stolen in Richmond, per RPD.

• Replacing the part can cost between $945 and $2,500.