More than 100 suspects snared with high-tech crime-fighting vehicles
By WENDY HUNDLEY / The Dallas Morning News
Memo to car thieves: The next vehicle you steal might take you for a ride.
That's what's happened to more than 100 suspects unlucky enough to be charged with stealing or burglarizing one of the "bait cars" used by police in Dallas, Richardson and Carrollton.
Officials say the use of these high-tech vehicles – which can be remotely tracked and controlled – has been so successful that they'd like to expand the initiative to other area cities so more criminals can take the bait.
"We're inviting others to get involved," said Sgt. Kevin Perlich, a spokesman for the Richardson Police Department, which followed Dallas in using bait cars to put a damper on motor vehicle-related crimes. Richardson has made nine arrests using bait cars and is spearheading the program in the suburbs.
While it's too soon for Richardson and Carrollton to have measured the impact of the crime-fighting tactic, Dallas is reporting a 10 percent reduction in auto thefts since it started using bait cars in 2004, when 15,881 vehicles were stolen in the city. Last year, that number dropped to 14,277.
"We believe it has played a significant part in the reduction of auto thefts," Dallas police Senior Cpl. Max Geron said of the bait car program, which has netted 91 arrests and 58 convictions.
The program is the result of a partnership among police, prosecutors and the insurance industry, said Jay Norris, a senior special agent for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit organization that provides the fully equipped bait cars to area police departments.
While he won't say how many bait cars are deployed locally, Mr. Norris said the vehicles are rotated among participating police departments to provide an ever-changing supply of targets for unsuspecting criminals.
"If we use just one car all the time, people would know it's a bait car," said Sgt. John Crawford of the Carrollton Police Department, which has made eight arrests using bait cars. "By using a fleet of them, we can move them around."
Here's how the bait works: Cars equipped with pinpoint cameras, GPS tracking systems and remote-control gadgetry are placed in areas with high incidents of theft and burglary.
When an intruder enters the car, police are alerted and can begin tracking the location. When they're ready to converge on the vehicle, they can lock the doors and disable the engine so the bait car slows to a halt, imprisoning the suspect.
Mr. Norris said the cars help police avoid dangerous, high-speed chases, and their hidden cameras provide photographic evidence for prosecutors, increasing the likelihood of successful prosecutions.
One self-confident suspect parked a stolen car in front of a soup kitchen and was apprehended by police when he was eating a free meal. And a thief with a long criminal history was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being captured in a bait car.
When asked about the use of bait cars, Plano defense lawyer Howard Shapiro said he doesn't believe they constitute entrapment of suspects.
He said the entrapment defense is used to argue that someone not predisposed to commit a crime was enticed to do so by police.
"If you get into a car that's not yours and your intent is to steal it, you're going to have a hard time asserting an entrapment defense and making it work," Mr. Shapiro said.
Authorities say the monitoring devices used in bait cars could also be applied to trucks, motorcycles or even construction equipment.
While the number of suspects arrested in bait cars is relatively small, officials believe the program has a larger impact because it acts as a deterrent to more motor vehicles crimes.
"We've had thieves get in our cars and say, 'You don't think this is one of the bait cars, do you?' " Mr. Norris said. "It works. Every place that has a successful bait car program has seen annual decreases in auto theft."
In the long term, he said, law-abiding citizens might be the real winners in the bait car program.
"If we can reduce the theft rate, insurance carriers can reduce premiums," Mr. Norris said. "That's our goal."
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