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Crime

‘Bait Cars’: This Is How St. Louis Police Are Keeping Car Thieves Off the Streets for the Holidays

Dec. 17, 2012 5:30pm Erica Ritz

St. Louis Police Use Bait Cars, Steamers to Catch Thieves

Screen shot from ‘bait car’ bust. (Photo via KMOV)

As the weather gets colder, St. Louis police say there is often a rise in car thefts. People start their cars, then head back inside as they warm up. They go Christmas shopping, then leave their newly acquired gifts in plain sight in the back seat.

This year, police have stepped up one method of combating the thefts: “bait cars.”

KSDK has more on the vehicles deliberately left unguarded by police:

Officers are luring thieves into unlocked and sometimes running vehicles, catching their every move on video and audio surveillance.

Sometimes police will fill the backseat with high priced items and sit the bait car in front of a shopping mall. Other times they will just place it alongside a busy highway and entice those passing by like a scenario in June of last year.

“As the police officers are dispatched to actually apprehend the people in the car we already know what’s going on,” says St. Louis County Police Sergeant Thomas Naughton. “We know how many suspects are in the car and what their actions are prior to the officers making contact.”

He says the bait cars are unlocked with the engine sometimes running and sometimes with the key in the ignition.

The goal is to capture the thieves, avoid high speed pursuits, even get the program some attention and it seems to be working. [Emphasis added]

The program has a 100% success rate, and is likely beginning to act as a deterrent for would-be thieves, St. Louis County Police Spokesman Randy Vaughn said.

Since police are recording video and audio within the cars– which they often reclaim within minutes– they can hear the criminals talking to each other.

“They’re trying to decide, ‘is this a St. Louis County Police Department vehicle, or is this just a neighbors vehicle with their car started?’” Vaughn remarked back in November, as the program first started gaining recognition.

More than that, authorities have the ability to shut down the cars if the suspects refuse to pull over. This often leaves the carjackers panicked, surrounded by police, in a no longer functioning vehicle.

KMOV has more, including clips from videos recorded in stolen “bait cars”:

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Comments (51)

Black Manta
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 4:10pm
I’m for the law, yes? but no matter how wrong the thief is…the police are wrong…WHY? Because where is it in the law that says, they can set up a thief????

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- monitor
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:27pm
  Each car thief caught should be brutally beat to a pulp.
  
  Report this comment
integrican
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 3:15pm
I wonder what they would do if they encountered someone like me who would stand guard until the owner came back and then speak to them about the consequences of leaving their car running. Would I be arrested for interfering in a police operation??? LOL

BTW: I believe it is illegal to leave a running car unattended. (c;

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Mr. H.
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:55pm
Go team go. It’s not a new idea, but it is still a good one, and it gets an element out of the community we can definitely do without. The one I really like is the phoney prize winner notifications to outlaws with outstanding warrants.

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BlessedONE333
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:29pm
it looked like a white bait car, so this is clearly racist entrapment

lol

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dadsrootbeer
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:08am
This is clearly profiling.

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dadsrootbeer
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:07am
Wonder what the race is of the majority of these thieves?

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- AZRACISTBIGOT
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 3:49pm
  The same racial percentages that you will find in most prisons
  For most, it’s definatley not their first rodeo.
  I watch it and LMAO when they try to lie their way out of it.
  
  Report this comment
Shrugged
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 7:24am
A crooks deepest desire is to be caught. This simply speeds up that process.

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scrapadapolis
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 7:06am
Police have been doing this for years.It’s even on TV.It’s a great show.I like how the mexicans and N-thugs try to lie about what they were doing in someones car.

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Marsh626
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:13pm
Here come all the pro-crime D Baggers whining about oppression and entrapment in genocidal Amerikkka…

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GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:47pm
What would one need to put inside a car as bait for Barry?

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- Doug
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:38pm
  A mirror
  
  Report this comment
- GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:51pm
  I didn’t expect that one!!!…LMAO!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Chunkyrhyno
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:10am
  beer, newports and weed
  
  Report this comment
- lefty5005
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:59am
  A hard back copy of “The Communist Manifesto.”
  
  Report this comment
NOTMOHAMMED
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:22pm
Whatever happened to hooking up four marine batteries to charge the hull? That works real good.

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DREDGE
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:34pm
The only thing missing is the car should explode when the engine cuts off!!!!!!

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- Zipit
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 9:53am
  That’d curb auto theft quickly, I’m guessing! Pun intended!
  
  Report this comment
TheHalfrican
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:06pm
Shoot em !

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OUTLAW_WEALTH
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:05pm
Who’d a thunk that our own government would be in the business of deception, anyway?

Bwa ah ah.

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yanki161
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:01pm
Maybe the laws have changed. I thought if you accidentally left your keys in your car and it got stolen, there was nothing you could do. You were deemed at fault. Yet it seems to be okay for the PD. It seems like classic entrapment which I thought was illegal. I’m glad they’re catching criminals but still…

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- eagle2715
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:29pm
  ” I thought if you accidentally left your keys in your car and it got stolen, there was nothing you could do.”
  
  I dunno where you got that idea. Regardless of how easy you make it, theft is still theft……
  
  Leaving your keys in the ignition may void some insurance companies policies, but that is about as close to what your describing that I can imagine…
  
  Report this comment
- HisNameWasRobertPaulson
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:39pm
  Don’t listen to bad TV shows about what entrapment is. Entrapment is when a cop goes to your door, and offers you a dime back. Now, if a cop says he has a dime bag for sale, and then you offer to buy it, that is not entrapment. He has to be the one making all the moves for entrapment to be a defense.
  
  Report this comment
- New.World.Fastfood.Order
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:55pm
  LOL? Are you serious or trolling?
  
  Report this comment
- DREDGE
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:30pm
  I guess if you left your front door open and someone walked in raped your daughter then it’s your fault!!!!!
  Sounds like obummer thinking!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- brigott
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:43pm
  Leaving your keys in a running car does not make the theft your fault.
  
  It may, however, void your insurance policy. You could be left with the bill, but the thief is still just as guilty.
  
  Report this comment
tckid17
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:56pm
Hey Thieves, “Tis the season to be busted, falla lalla la, la la la la” Don we now have jail apparrel, falla la lala la la la la”

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- Angel_light
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:11pm
  Lol
  
  Report this comment
- Balpit
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:37pm
  Held until they post our bail, fa la la la la, la la la la.
  
  Report this comment
Frederick_Douglass_Republican
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:52pm
Big deal. These dirtbags get caught and are back out stealing cars again within days or weeks. The ones they really nail good are out within months. I like the way they dealt with horse thieves in the 19th century. No repeat offenders.

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- lefty5005
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 9:03am
  My favorite Roger Miller song, Hang me, Hang me, got to take a rope and Hang me, Hang me on the highest tree, women won’t you wait for me. Something like that anyway.
  
  Report this comment
GuruMeditation
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:47pm
Hahaha… I love it. Fine business!

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AzThunder
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:45pm
GREAT IDEA – More cities should do this..!

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theninthplanet
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:38pm
This is one police program I can live with.

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Psychosis
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:37pm
lol they found a white guy to balance it out lol

they do this in philly …………99.9999999999999% of the time its a black guy or girl …………just picking up their obama car right ?

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- Cabo King
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:45pm
  and it’s gonna get worse,not better…why work and take a pay cut?? It’s the Hussain Obama way
  
  Report this comment
blanco5
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:35pm
Those who are stupid enough to leave their car running DESERVE to get it stolen!

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- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:53pm
  Really, what a shiite-hole you must live in!
  
  Do you have a “bug out bag” full for when the SHTF-end-of-preppies-world happens? We are already in place where you want to go when you bug-out.
  
  We don’t lock our houses, why bother when we have windows in back? A thief could demolish a back wall leisurely. Cars are routinely left running at the (one) grocery store to keep warm.
  
  I disarmed to go to church yesterday in anticipation of a heated discussion that didn’t happen. If you wonder where all the 5.56 and 7.62 went, its here, enough to sink the Island. Most people live within earshot of the range, to hear the automatic gunfire.
  
  You are not welcome.
  
  Report this comment
- LakeHartwellSailor
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:57pm
  Really? They DESERVE to get their car stolen? So, by your logic, if a woman wears appealing clothing, she DESERVES to be raped?
  
  If a white guy walks into a bad neighborhood, he DESERVES to be shot?
  
  Guess I was brought up in the wrong way. I was always taught to respect other peoples property.
  
  Report this comment
- blanco5
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:59pm
  Yes, DOUG, and that sh*thole is called DALLAS!
  
  Report this comment
- blanco5
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:09pm
  LAKE–in a perfect world there would be respect of private property, but evil exists and it exists in big doses where I live.
  
  Report this comment
- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:12pm
  A true shiite-hole, wlecome to it, Blanco-boy chingadero.
  
  Report this comment
- GuruMeditation
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:09pm
  I strongly disagree.
  
  Report this comment
- lefty5005
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 9:08am
  Guy left a wallet in a gold jewelry shop in Riyadh in 1992 when I was there. Went back the next day and it was right where he left it, untouched. I am not saying you need to cut off hands for thievery but if it doesn’t belong to you, don’t touch it. This is really a simple premise but blacks can’t seem to fathom the principle. Hispanics and whites have some members that do not have that capacity for learning either and then there are some who rationale (you) that if someone makes a mistake they should pay dearly for it. Perhaps next time you bend over some f…g…t will pummel your rectum.
  
  Report this comment
BannedByHuffpo
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:35pm
HEY THAT’S NOT FAIR MAN! That’s entrapment!

You MADE ME steal that car.

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- arvadadan
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 4:22pm
  I trust there is a bit of sarcasm in you post…
  
  Report this comment
ResistSocialism
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:35pm
this is stepping over the line enforcing law

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- blanco5
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:41pm
  I agree. There are plenty of real scenarios to go after without creating them.
  
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- chips1
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:01pm
  Now Flobama and Holder will use this as a defense. The guns were just left there and the drug cartel stole them.
  
  Report this comment
- SeekerEmerald
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:24pm
  What line is this stepping over? What innocent person would even consider driving off in a car that does not belong to them? What constitutional or legal issue is there?
  It’s not entrapment, by any stretch of the imagination, so what is the issue.
  
  I understand that you don’t like it, but i’d be curious to see the reasons why you think it’s “stepping over the line.”
  
  Report this comment

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