By james art 
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Dozens of drivers found themselves stopping at the London Bridge Baptist Church on Saturday to get extra protection for their vehicles.
The church on Potters Road in Virginia Beach was the site of the Virginia Beach Police Department’s second VIN engraving event.
Officers spent much of the morning etching vehicle identification numbers onto the vehicles’ catalytic converters. The most important part of the vehicle is usually stolen instead of the precious metals inside, and without something to identify it to the vehicle it belongs to, it can be difficult to trace.
“There will be a VIN number on the engine block or on the door, but as far as the catalytic converter, there is nothing. This is our way of trying to mark the catalytic converter to at least prevent theft,” said Sergeant William Frederick, who organized the engraving event.
Frederick says he held the first engraving event earlier this year after seeing other local police departments hold similar events.
Officers get under the vehicles and use special tools to etch the VIN onto the catalytic converter. The process only takes a few minutes.
Frederick says nearly 80 pilots signed up before Saturday’s event.
He adds that this latest event means two of the four police stations have had the opportunity to protect their catalytic converters. He hopes to hold events in the area around the Oceanfront and Kempsville next year.