Anchorage Daily News

Somewhere on an Anchorage street, a vehicle is waiting for a thief to jack it.

Police put it there.

It's a "bait car," specially equipped with audio and video equipment aimed at nailing the hapless soul who picks this car to steal. The vehicle is part of a new program aimed at instilling fear in car thieves -- fear that the vehicle they're about to boost could be the one that will bring the cops down on top of them.

"We want to keep the bad guys guessing," said Sgt. Doug Pickerel, supervisor of the theft unit. "That's what makes the program successful, is the bad guys never know if the car they're taking is a bait car or not."

The bait car program claimed its first arrest late last month, when a bait vehicle was swiped off Bering Street between 31st and 32nd avenues, where officers had parked it the night before, according to a police affidavit filed in court.

Dwayne Jones, 27, was arrested blocks away, at 32nd and A Street.

The thief got first-hand knowledge of the car's capabilities. Among them are the hidden recording equipment that captured the entire theft in progress, the sounds and the sights. The vehicle was also equipped with a real-time tracking device that tells police exactly where it is when the thief speeds off. And, in case the perp won't stop, police can shut down its engine remotely -- though the thief still controls the brakes and steering until the car stops.

What attracts criminals to bait cars over others right next to them is that police make stealing them as easy as possible by, for example, leaving the keys inside, said Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for National Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit funded by auto insurers.

But local defense attorney Jeffrey Feldman said he has questions about how the program would be run. For example, making vehicle theft too easy could wind up snaring people like mischievous teenagers who never set out to steal a car, he said.

"The problem with that from a matter of public policy is that it seems sort of inevitable that, at some point, you're going to entice someone to steal a car who wouldn't have stolen the car if it had been just a little more difficult," Feldman said.

The enticement question "is typically raised, not just with this, but most arrests where you have got some arrangement like that, where you make it rather easy for someone to commit the act," Scafidi said. "But none of those arguments or defenses have prevailed either."

The system costs about $5,000, but it and a car were donated to APD by the NICB. The program has been around for years and has deployed more than 200 bait cars to cities across the country said Frank Scafidi, an NICB spokesman. Some cities that use the systems have reported a 40 percent reduction or more in auto thefts, he said.

"If you get those multi offenders, the ones that go out there and grab several cars in a week or so, you take a few of those of those off the street, then you're putting your most active criminals away and that's going to have pretty good result on your statistics," Scafidi said.

In Anchorage, which averages about 20 vehicle thefts a week, similar results could put a significant dent in the number of cases, Pickerel said.

Police have been pleased enough with the program's prospects that they want to expand the number of lures they're using, though Pickerel, not wanting to show his hand, wouldn't say by how many.

Police first got the equipment this spring after trying to get the program in place for several years, he said. After learning how to install the equipment and then training with it, police implemented the program this summer.

Any vehicle can be equipped with the system, Pickerel said, and it can be moved from one vehicle to another, so thieves should consider all rides and neighborhoods suspect.

"There's really no area or areas in this town that see a higher incidence of stolen vehicles over another," Pickerel said. "It's pretty much all over town, so the site is pretty much random."

Offenders like Jones are charged with first-degree vehicle theft, a felony that can net a maximum of five years in prison, though first-time offenders might get none.

And it would likely be difficult to wage an entrapment defense against such a tactic because doing so would require proving the crime would not have been committed without police coaxing a suspect into it, Feldman said.

"The idea's not going to be planted, and if the only thing that the police department is doing is putting the means at someone's disposal, and if all they're doing is creating an opportunity and a little bit of enticement, it could be difficult to convert that into a full-blown entrapment defense," Feldman said. "A successful entrapment defense cannot be advanced in a setting where an individual is shown to have a predisposition to commit the crime."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

With 1,498 vehicle thefts in 2007, Anchorage's vehicle theft rate ranked 73rd out of 361 nationwide metropolitan statistical areas surveyed, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. It was down from 58th in 2006.

Fairbanks had 288 vehicle thefts and ranked 133rd on the list.

HOTTEST VEHICLES IN ALASKA (FOR THIEVES), 2007

1. 1994 Ford F-150

2. 2000 Chevrolet 1500 pickup

3. 1993 Ford Explorer

4. 1997 Honda Civic

5. 1994 Honda Accord

MOST STOLEN VEHICLES NATIONWIDE, 2007

1. 1995 Honda Civic

2. 1991 Honda Accord

3. 1989 Toyota Camry

4. 1997 Ford F-150 Pickup

5. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup

TIPS TO AVOID BECOMING A STATISTIC:

"Professional thieves can steal any car, but make them work for yours," warns the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The group promotes a "layered approach" to protection. Each step adds another buffer to prevent your vehicle from landing on the chopping block.

• Lock your vehicle, remove the keys and park in a well-lit area.

• Use a visible or audible deterrent, like a steering wheel lock or alarm.

• Use an immobilizing device like a smart key or fuse cut-off to prevent hot-wiring.

• Install a tracking device to help recover your vehicle if all else fails.

-- Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau Vehicle theft in Alaska

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