***NOTE***
Since I wrote these sad little musings I have received a steady flow of mail regarding this subject. So much so that I am revisiting this old post and enshrining the comments in the body of the post.
Also here is a link to an episode of This American Life in which a “perp” recounts his bait car experience.
And Grits for Breakfast looks into the legality of leaving a car unattended with the keys in it. Apparently this is also a crime in Texas.
So, I tuned in to this show on Court TV thinking it was about this car that picked up underage hookers and busted them and then made them appear on TV ala Maury Povitch. Sadly I was mistaken.
this one might be a little too obvious
Here is how it works. The coppers leave a car running in a high crime neighborhood and then some idiot steals it and then the coppers bust them. If the culprit tries to get away via high speed car chase then the car is shutdown. Jeez, it just makes it too easy for the cops.
Bait Cars do not discriminate based on race or sex, just class
The OverDrone is confused as to the legality of this. Isn’t this just entrapment? According to the show this has been going on for a decade. I don’t know how they would get a conviction with this though. Check it out and see for yourself.
Bait Car on Court TV
Comments begin here, names are changed to first Initials unless you are anonymous which I think is also illegal in Texas.
WUT THA HAIL!?
Anonymous(1) 1/11/08
Entrapment > Legal Definition
“ENTRAPMENT – A person is ‘entrapped’ when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case.
However, there is no entrapment where a person is ready and willing to break the law and the Government agents merely provide what appears to be a favorable opportunity for the person to commit the crime. For example, it is not entrapment for a Government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informer or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person. So, a person would not be a victim of entrapment if the person was ready, willing and able to commit the crime charged in the indictment whenever opportunity was afforded, and that Government officers or their agents did no more than offer an opportunity.
On the other hand, if the evidence leaves a reasonable doubt whether the person had any intent to commit the crime except for inducement or persuasion on the part of some Government officer or agent, then the person is not guilty.
In slightly different words: Even though someone may have [sold drugs], as charged by the government, if it was the result of entrapment then he is not guilty. Government agents entrapped him if three things occurred:
- First, the idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.
- Second, the government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime.
- And third, the person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him.
On the issue of entrapment the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped by government agents.” (http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e024.htm)
So no, simply providing an easily stolen car for thieves to steal is not entrapment.
-R.
a priori knowledge if I'm not mistaken
ME-1/11/08
well ok, I guess it’s not entrapment then. Thank you for clearing that up R.
Get a job Elfy! Oh wait he's just Canadian. the rosy cheeks are a dead giveaway.
ME – 5/30/09
You know I’ve thought about this for over a year and it does appear to be somewhat misleading to leave a car running. Like so; the means to commit the crime were provided by a government agent so that is one part of the trifecta you referenced R. The remaining points you made are valid but that does leave some wiggle room for the defendant doesn’t it? What if government agents left a bag of drugs on the ground and then busted whoever picked it up? Would that be entrapment. You could argue that providing the means to commit a crime is the same thing as inducing or persuading couldn’t you?
Bait graffiti. an Image is sprayed on a wall and "perps" are apprehended while defacing the image. GO GO Gadget JUSTICE!
Anonymous- 9/03/09
Bait cars are usually left in a situation to entice someone to take the vehicle. In southern California, there is usually some kind of commotion to draw attention to the scene, such as an argument between two people in public and then both people leaving in one car with the other car left there with the driver side door open and the engine running. People are busted as they move the cars and park them. In that situation, it’s arguable that it is entrapment.
one of these people is a "perp", The other one shares a barber with Sadam Hussein and Tom Selleck.
L- 11/30/09
I tivo all the bait car episodes… this may not be entrapment, however police target minorities and pass it off as setting the car in “high crime areas”. The police refer to people as “suspects” before they even drop the car. I think this is procedure is a HORRIBLE injustice and there should be another show done where they set a car in suburban neighborhoods and see if those people will “steal” the car as well. They will.
this guy is a record breaker
Anonymous(2)- 1/1/10
It’s not entrapment, idiots. The perps decide on their own to get in the cars and drive them away. It doesn’t matter whether the police leave the car out or an average person leaves their car out… A NORMAL person doesn’t get into a stranger’s car.
Use your brains, kids.
this is the couple from the radio program I was talking about above
Anonymous(3) 1/20/10
“Who gets into a car that’s not their’s even if the keys are in it?” — someone trying to steal a car. And technically speaking the charge isn’t “stealing” the car — which would involve forcible entry and/or hot-wiring the car, these are likely cases of criminal trespass to vehicle. All the state has to prove is that you knowingly and w/o permission entered the car of another person. That is certainly the case of a bait car. Here in Chicago lots of people leave their cars running to warm up on cold days and then come back to find it gone.
click for the bait car site
ME- 1/20/10
Bit rude there Anon(2). If you find us idiotic please go read something more enlightening.
L., I agree that the bait car does seem to target certain classes of people. One could argue that leaving a bait car in a wealthier part of town would accomplish nothing though as the “perp” either has the means to own their own car or a good lawyer.
I think it may be a way to get young offenders into the police record early.
What is hard to believe is that people are still stealing these cars. I know your average disadvantaged youth may not be up on the latest law enforcement techniques but they do have basic cable don’t they?
Anyway the passion you have all brought to this (even you Anon, thanks for bearing with us “kids” whoever you are) has inspired me to reopen this festering societal wound but not here. I am going to transplant the comments to the new and improved OverDrone so let’s have a legal debate party over here but please take public transport if you don’t have your own ride.
Entrapment > Legal Definition
“ENTRAPMENT – A person is ‘entrapped’ when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case.
However, there is no entrapment where a person is ready and willing to break the law and the Government agents merely provide what appears to be a favorable opportunity for the person to commit the crime. For example, it is not entrapment for a Government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informer or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person. So, a person would not be a victim of entrapment if the person was ready, willing and able to commit the crime charged in the indictment whenever opportunity was afforded, and that Government officers or their agents did no more than offer an opportunity.
On the other hand, if the evidence leaves a reasonable doubt whether the person had any intent to commit the crime except for inducement or persuasion on the part of some Government officer or agent, then the person is not guilty.
In slightly different words: Even though someone may have [sold drugs], as charged by the government, if it was the result of entrapment then he is not guilty. Government agents entrapped him if three things occurred:
- First, the idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.
- Second, the government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime.
- And third, the person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him.
On the issue of entrapment the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped by government agents.” (http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e024.htm)
So no, simply providing an easily stolen car for thieves to steal is not entrapment.
-Reokue
well ok, I guess it’s not entrapment then. Thank you for clearing that up Reokue.
You know I’ve thought about this for over a year and it does appear to be somewhat misleading to leave a car running. Like so; the means to commit the crime were provided by a government agent so that is one part of the trifecta you referenced Reokue. The remaining points you made are valid but that does leave some wiggle room for the defendant doesn’t it? What if government agents left a bag of drugs on the ground and then busted whoever picked it up? Would that be entrapment. You could argue that providing the means to commit a crime is the same thing as inducing or persuading couldn’t you?
Personally I’m a little torn on this. First of all I don’t have a lot of sympathy with anyone who steals a car pretty much regardless of how easy it was made for them. Secondly I think that this is a bullshit program. Are there not already enough actual cars being stolen by career criminals that we have to actually encourage people to steal? I’d be really interested to see what kind of an impact these kinds of programs have on crime statistics. It may be that they actually do serve as a deterent and that they actually do lock up people who would’ve just stolen another car anyway. In that case I’d expect to see theft generally go down. But it may also be that you’re locking up people who led otherwise constructive lives based on a moment of weakness just to pad your departments arrest numbers while the actual number of car thefts remain unaffected.
It does seem to target the gadflys, those who commit crimes on a whim. I would think any seasoned criminal would have the means to open and start a vehicle and might view the Bait Car as beneath their skill level.
Yes. It happened to my brother last winter. He was at a bar and started the car to warm it up and went inside. He came out a few minutes later and, of course, it was gone. They found it a couple of days later. And yes, it took me a while to stop laughing when he told me…imagining the look on his face as he turned his head looking around the parking lot. So I’m torn on the bait car issue. You have to expect to get busted if you get into someone else’s car. And there are those times when you want to warm your car up. But I kind of like the idea of the crim, worn out after a hard day, freezing his arse off…and his absolute delight in finding the pre-heated ride!
I could argue for both sides of this issue – my question is more basic. Is there nothing else for this TEAM (I say team b/c there are always about 7 or 8 officers working to entrap…opps I mean “bait” one guy)of law enforcement officers to do other than to create an opportunity for crime? Would that be like leaving cookies in my kids room and then spaking them for eating them? Shouldn’t I be spending my time reviewing homework or making dinner instead of hiding in my kids closet to see if they take my bait? If I were their employer (a tax payer) I would rather that the money spent on the bait car, the officers’ salaries, insurance and gas to be spent on… oh I dunno maybe education or prevention?
and the jail cells will have heaters too
It does seem like a lot of trouble when a little bit of local policing might help just as much. A good cop will know who is stealing cars in the neighborhood anyways without this outsized RC car.