After an Eyewitness News investigation revealed a sharp increase in thieves stealing car parts and selling them for scrap metal, we got numerous calls and emails asking what the scrap dealers are doing to make sure they're not buying stolen goods.

The Bakersfield Police Department and the Kern Co. Sheriff's Department have reported numerous cases of thieves stealing catalytic converters from parked cars. Catalytic converters contain precious metals like platinum and rhodium which are selling for record high prices. A stolen catalytic converter can net as much as $200.

According to James Clemmons, owner of Bob's Muffler shop in east Bakersfield, even an inexperienced thief can steal a catalytic converter in minutes.

According to Mike Coates, General Manager of Sierra Recycling in east Bakersfield, scrap dealers give their weekly receipts to the Sheriff's Department. In addition, Coates said his company does not buy catalytic converters from walk-in customers. Other scrap dealers said the same thing.

The same could be said for the Nashville, Tennessee Police Department. Some of the city's largest scrap dealers turned over the names of more than 30,000 people that had recently sold scrap metal. Detectives ran criminal background check on each of those names. More than 330 were found to be people with multiple convictions for felony burglary and theft. The scrap dealer, in turn, agreed not to do business with those people.

So far there is no plan for similar program in Kern County. But a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department said investigators from the Rural Crimes Unit work "very closely" with area scrap dealers.