VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – On Saturday, dozens of motorists found themselves pulling into London Bridge Baptist Church to provide 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 most of the morning engraving Vehicle Identification Numbers onto vehicle catalytic converters. The essential part of a vehicle is often stolen for the valuable metal inside and can be difficult to track down without anything identifying it as belonging to the vehicle to which it belongs.

“There will be a VIN number on the engine block or on the door, but when it comes to the catalytic converter there is nothing. This is our way of trying to label the catalytic converter to at least prevent theft,” said Sergeant William Frederick, who organized the engraving event.

Frederick said he held his first etching 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 into the catalytic converter. The process only takes a few minutes.

Frederick said about 80 drivers had signed up before Saturday’s event.

He adds that this latest incident means two of the force’s four districts have the opportunity to protect their catalytic converters. He hopes to hold events in the Oceanfront and Kempsville areas next year.