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By TOM HAYS
In this Monday, April 8, 2013 photo, Deirdre Myers poses for a picture near her home in New York. Police took Myers and her teen daughter into custody in 2010 in what's known as a "bait car" operation. It involved leaving a wad of cash in an unattended car and seeing if a would-be thief would take advantage. The dismissal of the case against the single mother has drawn attention to police tactics that a judge ruled went too far. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) Sometimes the bait is a small amount of cash in a stray wallet. Or a credit card. Even a pack of cigarettes can do the trick.
Police in New York City leave the items unattended on subway platforms, on park benches, in cars and wait to see if someone grabs them.
The New York Police Department says the practice has been a valuable tool for catching career criminals and deterring thefts in public places. But a recent court ruling throwing out a larceny case against a Bronx woman cast a harsh light on a tactic critics say too often sweeps up innocent people.
Judge Linda Poust Lopez found that there was no proof Deirdre Myers tried to steal anything and that she was framed by a sting that took the tactic way too far.
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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/take-bait-nypd-anti-theft-tactics-criticized#overlay-context=article/gunmen-attack-mogadishu-court-complex-witnesses
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)rather than the tactic's inherent nature.
Ms. Meyees didn't do anything of a criminal nature.
rocktivity
(44,555 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 22, 2014, 12:37 PM - Edit history (1)
...(T)hey now require more evidence of intent a suspect trying to hide a wallet or taking cash out of it and throwing it away before making an arrest...
Myers' daughter, seeing that the driver left the car door open, went over and peered inside to see personal items that included what looked like a bundle of cash in reality, a dollar bill wrapped around pieces of newspaper. The girl had called her mother over when another set of police officers suddenly pulled up in a van and forced them to the ground, according to Myers' account.
I once found a wallet on the beach near a garbage can -- apparently the thief took the cash and tried to drop it into the can from the boardwalk above, and missed. I took it home and mailed it the next day. If I'd been pulled over, I could have been busted???
rocktivity