A
bait car, also called a
decoy car, is a vehicle used by
law enforcementA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
agencies to capture
car thievesMotor vehicle theft, sometimes referred to as grand theft auto by the media and police departments in the US, is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle, including an automobile, truck, bus, motorcycle, snowmobile, trailer or any other motorized vehicle...
. The vehicles are specially modified, with high-tech features including
GPS trackingA GPS tracking unit is a device that uses the Global Positioning System to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record the position of the asset at regular intervals...
and audio/video surveillance technology, and can be remotely monitored and controlled by law enforcement personnel. A
remote controlA remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance....
led immobilizer (known as a "kill" device or killswitch in
law enforcement jargonLaw enforcement jargon refers to a large body of acronyms, abbreviations, codes and slang used by law enforcement personnel to provide quick concise descriptions of people, places, property and situations, in both spoken and written communication. These vary between countries and to a lesser extent...
) may be installed in the vehicle allowing police to remotely disable the engine.
The bait car, often filled with valuable items to draw attention to it, is parked un-attended in a high auto-theft area.
A
bait car, also called a
decoy car, is a vehicle used by
law enforcementA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
agencies to capture
car thievesMotor vehicle theft, sometimes referred to as grand theft auto by the media and police departments in the US, is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle, including an automobile, truck, bus, motorcycle, snowmobile, trailer or any other motorized vehicle...
. The vehicles are specially modified, with high-tech features including
GPS trackingA GPS tracking unit is a device that uses the Global Positioning System to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record the position of the asset at regular intervals...
and audio/video surveillance technology, and can be remotely monitored and controlled by law enforcement personnel. A
remote controlA remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance....
led immobilizer (known as a "kill" device or killswitch in
law enforcement jargonLaw enforcement jargon refers to a large body of acronyms, abbreviations, codes and slang used by law enforcement personnel to provide quick concise descriptions of people, places, property and situations, in both spoken and written communication. These vary between countries and to a lesser extent...
) may be installed in the vehicle allowing police to remotely disable the engine.
The bait car, often filled with valuable items to draw attention to it, is parked un-attended in a high auto-theft area. In some cases, the vehicle may be simply left unlocked with the keys in the ignition. When the car is stolen, officers are immediately alerted, and can monitor the vehicle and send commands to control it such as disabling the engine, locking the doors or honking the horn. The newest technology being deployed in bait cars is live audio/video streaming that allows law enforcement personnel to see and hear inside a bait car before approaching it to determine how many suspects are in the car, what they are planning and if they are armed.
Although laws are regional, it is questionable whether the practice of deploying bait vehicles is
entrapmentEntrapment is the act of a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense which would be illegal and the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal guilt....
. If a car is just left by law enforcement and monitored, it cannot be considered entrapment. However, in jurisdictions such as Southern California, police have been known to create a public commotion such as an argument between two individuals in the middle of the street before leaving the bait car with the engine running and the driver's side door open. In some situations, the car is not even properly parked. The key in deciding when police are using a bait car illegally is whether they leave it in such a state that would entice someone who would normally not commit a crime, to do so.
The bait car is a phenomenon in the study of criminal behavior since it offers a rare glimpse into the actions and reactions of suspects before, during and after the crime. Unlike other crimes caught on
surveillanceSurveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people and often in a surreptitious manner...
cameras, suspects, at least initially, believe and react as if the crime has been wholly successful, until the bait car is apprehended by law enforcement personnel.
The Minneapolis Police, who pioneered their widely adopted model for deploying bait car technology almost 15 years ago, continue to run one of the most successful bait car programs in North America. The Minneapolis program, that incorporates high-tech equipment and a high media campaign is now considered the
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
standard for bait vehicle deployment world-wide.
The largest bait car fleet in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
, which employs the Minneapolis model, is operated by the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT), based in
Surrey, British ColumbiaSurrey is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that lies within the Metro Vancouver district, and geographically at the centre of the larger region known as the Lower Mainland of British Columbia...
, Canada. Surrey was designated the "car theft capital of North America" by the
Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal, provincial and municipal policing body...
in 2002. Their highly successful bait car program was launched in 2004, and has contributed to a 47% drop in auto theft since then.
Bait cars can be used as part of a honey trap, a form of
sting operationIn law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
, in which criminals not known to the police are lured into exposing themselves. Unlike a sting operation that targets a known or suspected criminal, a honey trap establishes a general lure to attract unknown criminals.
Bait cars (and the stings they are used in) have been featured in numerous documentary and reality television programs, including
COPSCOPS is an American documentary television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities...
and
World's Wildest Police VideosWorld's Wildest Police Videos is a reality TV series that dealt with police videos from across the world. Video footage of car chases, subsequent arrests, robberies, riots and other crimes appeared on the show...
. They were also the exclusive focus of a 2007
Court TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Time Warner through its subsidiary, Turner Broadcasting. Named Court TV before 2008 , the basis of the network's programming has traditionally been live homicide trial coverage and other criminal justice programming; however, the network has...
(now truTV) series simply titled
Bait Car.
External links
- BaitCar.com - Official website of IMPACT's bait car program in British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
. Includes on-board videos of bait cars being stolen.
- BSM Wireless - Manufacturer of systems for bait car programs including those featured on baitcar.com
- Recon Solutions - Manufacturer of live audio/video streaming technology used for bait car programs including those featured on baitcar.com