I have written before about police using bait to try and entice crooks to drive off in a car, at which time they are then arrested for GTA. I am generally against such tactics, as they take up a lot of manpower, create liability issues, and get the lowest link in the criminal chain. It’s low-hanging fruit, and does nothing to get at the higher levels of crook involved in the criminal loop involved in property crimes.
In this case, it’s worse. LAPD was setting up moderately valuable property up in a car with the doors open and engine running. Now all you have is a theft, in this case grand theft, since the property is worth more than $900, the legal cutoff above which is classified as a felony.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20120121,0,4247120,full.column
Reliably liberal bleeding heart LA Times columnist Sandy Banks’ position in this column is similar to mine, in that she feels these operations are bad policy, but for different reasons. She thinks the money would be better spent on drug rehabilitation, so these chronic addicts won’t need to steel. She then contradicts herself when she points out that the gal in the story has been afforded many opportunities to rehab, and consistently relapses, ultimately leading her back to her criminal ways. I’d argue that relapse is her permanent state, interrupted by brief bouts of sobriety.
The police contend that they are snatching up crooks who would have broken into your car, had they not been enticed into stealing from the LAPD bait car. Then they throw out the statistic that property crimes are down 20% since this program has started. No proof that this program is the cause, likely because there is no proof. Crime rates for all types of crimes have dropped citywide.
The comments from readers at the end of the column are instructive, split about 50/50 between folks who think this is a good way to preemptively round up crooks that otherwise would have stolen from them, and people who think money ( what money?) would be better spent on rehab. Some are concerned that we are filling prisons with “made up crooks”, ignoring the fact that these are almost always multiple repeat offenders. One reader comments, “Wow, ten years in prison for stealing a case of cigarettes!” No, dummy, ten years for a life of criminal acts, of which this is the latest, and for which most she didn’t get caught and punished.
I’d like to see the cops be more active in patrolling neighborhoods, and using crime analysis information to make them less random and more focused. I read the weekly crime stats for activity in my beat, and use that to proactively patrol. I am a firm believer in broken windows policing. For that to happen, the police must be encouraged to, and have resources available, to get these “broken windows” fixed. For example, if I see fresh graffiti, but don’t have a graffiti removal company that will quickly come out and remove it, then there is no broken windows policing going on. If police officers or citizens, attempt to resolve problems but keep running into dead ends, both will quickly become frustrated and stop bothering.
It is short sighted for a city to claim to have no money to take care of these problems. There is usually money, but priorities are off. In the long run, which is hard for many politicians to visualize, the increase in property values and quality of life will pay for these solutions.


