Chula Vista police and a local auto shop teamed up Saturday in a bid to help car owners deter theft of their catalytic converters.

Dozens of people took advantage of an event dubbed “Engrave and Save,” where they had their vehicle’s identification number (or VIN) engraved onto the car part, an oft-targeted item for thieves. The police department worked with Cherniss Tire World to offered the service for free to 50 people — and the spots were quickly filled.

The engraving is akin to putting your name on it, Chula Vista police Sgt. Anthony Molina told OnScene TV. It may not prevent the theft, he said, but “it gives us a chance to actually get these catalytic converters back to somebody if they are stolen.”

And, he said, the engraved areas were highlighted with paint to make the engraving highly visible — a warning to the thief that the car part can be traced back to the vehicle. “They are going to have a much harder time trying to get it through a recycling company,” Molina said.

Precious metals inside catalytic converters make them attractive to thieves. Law enforcement officials said people steal and sell the devices for hundreds of dollars to scrapyards or recycling centers where they can be melted to extract the metals — palladium, rhodium and platinum.

Molina said thieves can saw off the car part quickly, perhaps within two minutes. “By the time people are calling it in, the thieves are out of the area,” he said.

The thefts are on the rise. In San Diego County, there were shy of 400 catalytic converter thefts reported in 2020. That jumped to over 2,000 such thefts last year, according to police officials tracking the crime.

Cherniss Tire World, which has been in business for 38 years, volunteered its location and services to do the engraving.

“I want to give back to the community. The community has been really good to me,” shop owner Randy Cherniss told OnScene TV. “It’s a win-win.”

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