Last Friday, eight BVNW students’ cars were broken into and over eight catalytic converters were stolen. Sold for scrap or precious metals, these car parts can be worth up to hundreds of dollars, according to principal Amy Murphy.

“You can saw off a catalytic convertor in less than a minute,” Murphy said. “Is it a quick thing that gets you a couple hundred bucks. In a large parking lot, like ours, you can hit multiple cars at one time.”

Murphy said the first occurrence was reported early in the school day, but she was unable to tell if it was just an isolated incident or something larger until later in the school day. Sophomore Cooper Trusdale was one of the students affected by the thefts.

“After school on Friday, I was turning on my car when I found it was way louder than normal,” Trusdale said. “It actually sounded like a boat.”

Trusdale owns a 2002 Toyota Sequoia, which has a double exhaust – both of his catalytic converters were stolen. He said overall the combined repair cost around $1400, but he ended up paying $700 due to insurance.

“I never really thought that somebody would do that, but once it happens it kind of puts you on your guard,” Trusdale said. “The school can’t really do anything about it because it already happened. I guess you can’t just put cameras everywhere around the parking lot immediately because that’s really expensive.”

Murphy said the District is still discussing the security camera situation. One subject under discussion is how half the building is scheduled to get new cameras over the summer.

“Those discussions don’t happen quickly,” Murphy said. “Right now, we’re working with the Overland Park Police, and they’re patrolling the lots more frequently. District is trying to see what we can do to the cameras that are here now to make them even better.”