BAIT CARS CATCHING CAR THIEVES

Imagine you've just stolen a car and realized too late the vehicle is
a bait car that was planted by local police. Your every move is being
captured on film and squad cars in the rear-view mirror will be moving
in to arrest you as soon as central dispatch cuts the power to your
engine.

Most people would cut and run, but not the suspect in the bait car
video Victoria police released last week. He whips out a crack pipe
and torches it with a lighter in an effort to inhale one last hit of
cocaine before police toss him in jail.

"It really speaks to the power of the addiction," observed Victoria
police Insp. Les Sylven during a recent media briefing held to tout
the success of the bait car program.

"He's obviously been through something like this before and the last
thing he wants to do before he's taken into custody is take a hit off
the pipe."

According to police, the man in the video fits the profile of most car
thieves in the province - a drug addicted young male stealing a
vehicle to use as transportation in the course of committing other
crimes.

"Ninety-five per cent of stolen vehicles are not taken for the value
of the vehicle," said RCMP Sgt. Tim Bain, one of several local
officers who attended Thursday's briefing. "They're not stealing these
cars to sell them. They're stealing them to go commit other crimes."

The good news is that statistics indicate the province's bait car
program has been highly effective at reducing auto theft in its first
six months of existence on Vancouver Island.

Since the program started in April, auto theft in Victoria and
Esquimalt has dropped by 41 per cent compared to April-October 2004.
Car theft in Nanaimo dropped by 31 per cent over the same period of
time.

Victoria police Sgt. Keith Lewis said while the numbers aren't
definitive proof that the bait car program is responsible for the
reduced auto theft rates, they clearly indicate a change in the usual
pattern of crime.

"Auto crime isn't really seasonal, but in the summer there's often a
five per cent increase," Lewis said. "This summer we did not see the
increase we usually see."

Bait cars, used on the Lower Mainland since 2002, are equipped with
video cameras, remote-controlled ignition switches and global
positioning systems that alert police dispatchers the moment auto
thieves break in.

In addition to curbing auto theft and related crime, the bait car
program has public safety benefits, Lewis pointed out.

"We'll never ever have to do a pursuit with the bait cars because
we're holding the keys," lewis said.

Police are reluctant to discuss where and when the cars are deployed,
but admit the program has yet to touch all corners of the Capital Region.

However statistics from Saanich also indicate a sharp drop in auto
theft, from 119 between April and October 2004 to 73 over the same
time period in 2005.

Saanich police spokesman Const. John Price attributed the decline to
the bait car program and the recent expansion of the detachment's
Block Watch program to include commercial premises.

Since the change, Saanich police officers have had success cracking
down on would-be thieves prowling local mall parking lots for cars to
steal, Price said.