Q: We’ve heard stories and seen TV shows about police baiting cars to catch car thieves. Do we use bait cars here?
A: Yes, we do have bait cars all over the city designed to catch criminals stealing cars. As far as car break-ins, we have several ways that we try to prevent them and catch those committing them: We have uniformed officers in areas susceptible to this type of crime, which acts as more of a deterrent. We also put covert, or plain-clothes, officers out there. They are often able to spot things that might be hidden from uniformed officers. They patrol in unmarked cars equipped with radios, so if they hear a call about suspicious activity, they can often respond even before the marked car gets there and might be more likely to catch something. We do put our cars out with goodies and we watch them — which has helped us catch people as well. Unfortunately, these guys can do a lot of damage. For example, we had a covert officer arrest a guy who’d committed three car burglaries in a certain area. While the suspect was in jail, burglaries in that area stopped. When he got out of jail, the burglaries began occurring again. He was arrested again, and they stopped. But he still got out. Often there’s not enough evidence to keep them. I know we’ve said it before, but people need to lock their cars, and don’t leave anything visible inside your car that will entice them. Nothing is foolproof — but combining our efforts can definitely hinder these criminals.
