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Monday, September 22 |
Spy camera catches car thieves
By Charlie
Russo
Staff Writer
Latest crime-fighting
weapons:
Hidden cameras in cars take photos
of thieves.
Taxi drivers serve as lookouts for
stolen cars on police list.
Computers in cruisers allow officers
to connect to special databases.
LAWRENCE -- It's the size of a tube
of lipstick and one of the Police Department's
biggest guns against car thieves.
It's a tiny spy camera, hidden
inside a disabled car parked somewhere in the city,
waiting to be triggered by would-be car thieves. So
far, the camera caught one man on film trying to
steal the bait -- not once, but twice in two
different areas of the city.
The unusual trap is one of a recent
series of innovative efforts police have made to
fight crime without adding more officers. Besides
the spy camera, police recruited taxi cab drivers as
lookouts for stolen cars and added advanced
computers to police cruisers.
It seems to be working. With one of
the highest car theft rates in the state, the city
has seen a 13 percent reduction in the number of
cars stolen between January and September 2002
compared to the same time period this year. For the
first nine months of 2002, 1,073 cars were stolen
while 938 have been stolen so far this year, said
Police Chief John J. Romero.
The lipstick cam is mounted in a
borrowed and purposely disabled car -- the make and
model is one of the most popular to be stolen -- and
left alone in various areas of the city. As soon as
the unknowing burglar breaks into the car, the
camera is activated, snapping photos at four-second
intervals. Police retrieve the snapshots from the
car every few days.
After setting up the camera in the
car, police dangled the bait by parking it in
high-theft areas. Police tossed a woman's purse on
the front seat to sweeten the deal for would-be
thieves. Even though the burglars can't actually
steal the car because the engine is disabled,
breaking into the car with intent to steal it,
whether the theft is successful or not, is still a
felony.
The first man arrested was Ramon
Cruz, 39, who police say is homeless. He was charged
with two counts of breaking and entering into a
vehicle at night, two counts of attempted larceny of
property more than $250, possession of burglary
tools, threats to commit a crime, giving a false
name to police and two warrants.
The camera photographed Cruz
breaking into the car twice -- at two different
locations. Police then confronted Cruz with pictures
taken by the spy camera and twice asked him if he
was the person in the photographs. Both times Cruz
admitted he was the man in the photos, saying, "Yes,
what did I do?" police said. Then they arrested him.
"One of the best things is they
don't know their picture was taken, so they don't
know we're looking for them," said Lt. Steve M
Takesian said of the car thieves. The camera also
adds the time and the date to the photo, which makes
it, "perfect for court," he added.
Takesian and Sgt. James Raso were
the officers who directed the department to the
cameras and had them installed. Takesian said the
$300 cameras are new to the market and he believes
Lawrence is one of, if not the first in the nation
to be using them in such a way.
"We looked in with other law
enforcement agencies around the country to see if
they were doing anything different than we were," he
said. "We couldn't find anybody doing anything
different."
Takesian said even more than making
arrests from the spy camera photos, he hopes that
potential criminals having second thoughts about
stealing a car will decide not to, for fear of
picking the police's dummy car.
"The great thing about it is the
minimal cost with no recurring costs for money or
manpower," Takesian said. "You just park the car and
let nature take its course."
Copyright© 2003
Eagle-Tribune Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
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