technewsworld.com — Minneapolis' bait-car program is one of the first and most successful of its kind in the country. More than 240 people have been arrested in the operation since it began in 1997, including 34 so far this year. The conviction rate is nearly 100 percent -- because it's tough to beat a case with your face on tape as you steal a car.
Sep 3, 2006 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountSep 4, 2006
We all especially loved the psycho meth head who stole a bait car and was driving so insanely that the cops were too afraid to shut it down because he was going so fast that likely would have killed someone..I think they finally took the car down the old fashioned way.. And man, you shoulda heard the guy screaming and raging like a lunatic when the cops came on the car speakers and said it was a bait car, yada yada. It become a Vancouver PR csmpaign againsy crystal meth the guy was so nuts.And in the true Canadian tradition, I think he was handed a limp sentence and paroled within months.
Closed AccountSep 4, 2006
Alright granted this is a valid way to make people steal cars less often. But it does not address the reasons for stealing them--therefore:The would-be theives will go to a different underground market.How about actually solving the problem? Make drugs legal. Give valid, factual, information about the drugs. Control the supply. Find out who is addicted. Offer them support. There was a heroin injection site in Canada already, I heard the director talking about it on NPR, how it was helping so many people. They had scientific evidence to support they were helping the community, not hurting it.<a class="user" href="http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060902/x090204.html">http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060902/x090204.html</a>Fix the problems that are causing the thefts. It will really do no good to just stop the thefts, as the crime will just migrate elsewhere.
dodger2020Sep 4, 2006
I'm sure your tune would change if it was YOUR car that got stolen. If the program gets criminals off the street and reduces the rate of that particular crime then what's the problem? Plus, a lot of these thieves ARE violent criminals. Watch the baitcar vid of that f**king methhead. How is driving a truck at nearly 100mph in ONCOMING traffic not violent? In addition to reducing car theft it possibly (and in some cases it's proven) reduces other types of crimes as well. I applaud this program and wish they had it in every big city.
bombshelter13Sep 4, 2006
Really? Vancouver's been doing this in Minneapolis?
sanchoSep 4, 2006
Maybe a cop killer wouldn't have killed the cop if the cop wasn't there in the first place. Shouldn't count as a /real/ crime because the cops put the person there in the first place, right?
osbjmgSep 4, 2006
Mootabolife - f**k Joe, it's not his car. That's EXACTLY what is wrong. A bad life does not give you the right to steal my stuff. Also, if Joe assumed all Americans were armed, he would be more hesitant to just mug someone because of his bad situation.
thewazSep 5, 2006
the freakin description says "since 1997" 9 years seems like a while to me.