Government Technology - June 2008 - (Page 43)

dumped after being stolen,” Gomez said. “We’ll use information from crime analysis; we’ll take information from citizens groups. Many times the citizens groups will have more updated information than our crime analysis unit, so we’ll use that.” The cars are nondescript and there are several, although the Police Department wouldn’t disclose just how many. “We want the bad guys to know that they’re out there but at the same time, we don’t want them to know how many and what they look like,” information is transmitted to the dispatcher. She gets units rolling, gives them a description of the car, the direction of travel and speed.” Ben Gomez, detective, Office of Investigations, Sacramento, Calif., Police Department “When an activation has occurred, the has a 100 percent conviction rate with no injuries sustained during the city’s bait car deployments. “We have the ability to record both audio and video,” Gomez said. “Additional features allow us to basically provide evidence at the court level that is nonarguable. How can you say ‘that’s not me’ when, in fact, there’s videotape right there in front of the jury of 12?” Tangible Benefits Gomez was careful not to reveal all the bait car’s bells and whistles as he talked about the tracking device, camera, GPS and other features. “We have the ability to lock the doors, we have the ability to kill the engine, and we have some other features I won’t divulge,” he said. Police want the bad guys to be aware of the bait cars, but they don’t want them to know many of the specifics about how the technology works, however. “The bad guys will start speculating, ‘That may be a bait car. Let’s get inside and tear it apart.’ Or maybe they steal a car but in the process of stripping it, they put two and two together — and this has happened — and they realize this is where the stuff is.” PHOTO BY JESSICA JONES Sacramento’s vehicle theft statistics have remained fairly static, possibly because bait Gomez said. Crime analysis reports show that car use there is limited. Other police departHondas, Toyotas, Acuras and trucks tend ments have seen great reductions in vehicle to be the vehicles most coveted by thieves, theft, however, and credited that to bait cars. Gomez said. “Whatever is being stolen, we try The Minneapolis Police Department was one to find a vehicle that’s very similar. Why not of the first to deploy the high-tech bait car in give them what they’re asking for?” 2004 and saw its auto thefts decrease by 37 percent in the first six months. Spending on bait car proAccording to the National grams depends on an agency’s Insurance resources and the depth to which Crime Bureau, it wants to develop the program. the Sacramento “It’s like anything else,” Young Metropolitan area is said. “A tracking system can be one of the nation’s as basic as $1,000, depending on 10 hot spots for how sophisticated you want to car theft. In 2006, be. There are systems out there Sacramento was for about $5,000 or $6,000. We ranked 7th for the second consecutive fall in between — about $3,000 and $3,500.” year with 19,558 vehicles stolen. The benefit of putting car thieves behind bars with little cost to the taxpayer is a no-brainer, he said. “Your front-end costs consist of setting up the equipment, but where the recovery occurs is the back end. You have no court time; you’re not using taxpayer dollars on the back end. “Some people estimate the cost of a trial Crooks know of the concept of bait cars, at $8,000 to $10,000 a day. With this technology and this program, you’re able to look but some thieves still can’t stop themselves. “Ideally we’d like to see our bait cars never at the evidence, and it’s so overwhelming in get stolen because everyone’s too afraid to terms of guilt they’re much more inclined to break into a car, but criminals aren’t the plead out.” In fact, Young said there has never been a smartest people in the world,” Young said. “There are always going to be people willing trial in Sacramento for theft of a bait car. “It’s to commit these crimes in our city, but hope- an open-and-shut case.” fully this is somewhat of a deterrent. If it’s not enough of a deterrent, if they choose one of these vehicles, the consequences are going to TO WATCH GTtv’s VIDEO REPORT ON THE be quite severe.” SACRAMENTO POLICE DEPARTMENT BAIT Anyone caught in a bait car is almost CAR, VISIT: WWW.GOVTECH.COM/GT/VIDEO guaranteed to do some jail time. Sacramento 43 http://www.govtech.com http://WWW.GOVTECH.COM/gt/video http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - June 2008

Government Technology - June 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions For... 3 Technologies That May Change Your Job ...And Your Life Loosening Medicaid's Grip Better Living Through Technology Immersive Itineraries Help Yourself Taking the Bait Shared Connection Up Close Spectrum Products Personal Computing signal:noise Digital Communities Contents Digital Tactics for a U.S. Recession E-Dilemma Stifling Community Innovation Leadership Interview Estonia Becomes E-Stonia If It Were Up to Me …

Government Technology - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.