By Joe Sambol
Car thieves beware. You’ve been officially warned.
That’s the message Ottawa police are sending with a pilot program aimed at deterring potential thieves.
As of March 6, bait cars have been placed in parking lots in both the St. Laurent Centre and Place d’Orléans Park & Ride.
Both sites, says Ottawa Police Services Board chairman Herb Kreling, were chosen because “those have been areas that have been hot-spots for vehicle thefts.”
The cars, which cannot be described, are said to be ‘high-theft’ cars by the Bait Car program’s co-ordinator Sgt. Steve Gardner.
The cars are equipped with a global positioning system, which allows police to track the car from a safe distance. The car is monitored by the police who then have the ability to shut off the car’s engine, eliminating the risk of a potentially dangerous chase.
“Without getting unduly close to the vehicle, police can follow it at a distance or parallel it on other streets,” Gardner says. “Once the vehicle is stopped in a safe location where there is little or no risk to the public, then the police officers can have the vehicle remotely shut down.”
The cars are moved around the parking lot by the police. “The vehicles will be parked, just as a customer would, and be picked up sometime in the afternoon,” Gardner says.
The program has yet to catch anyone in the act, but transportation and transit committee member Rainer Bloess says the program is not about catching criminals as much as it is about deterring them.
“If you can deter car thefts, you’re winning half the battle,” Bloess says. “I think it’s a great program because of this deterrent effect.
“It is more than the vehicle itself, it is really the knowledge community-wide that we have this program,” Kreling says.
A similar pilot program was already done in Hamilton, where it was responsible for reducing the number of car thefts at the test location by 73 per cent according to the City of Ottawa.
Kreling says the program is not considered entrapment because of its publicity. “It is not entrapment because we’re telling them. It’s pretty obvious when you pull into one of those parking lots right now that we are using this program.”
Kreling is referring to the signs posted at the entrances of the parking lots, telling drivers of the program.
The program is a group effort between the City of Ottawa, Ottawa police, OC Transpo and local sponsors who have donated the cars and necessary equipment.
Gardner says the private sector contributions, which total about $23,000, have helped make the program very cost effective.
This covers the brunt of expenses, as Gardner explains the police’s contribution involves committing the surveillance of the cars, and response in the event of a theft.
“We’re contributing the human resources and response in the event of the vehicle being stolen,” says Gardner of the police role.
The program has been receiving good reviews from shoppers parking at the St. Laurent Centre.
“It’s a safe way to do it, and as long as people know the program is here, I think it’s a good idea,” Bernadette Lemay says.
Raymond Dorion, another shopper, says, “the police are trying something new and I think that’s good.”
Kreling hopes the pilot program will continue until the end of the year.
After the program is evaluated, it can be adopted to cover the entire city. “If it became a mainstream program beyond the pilot stage, we’d be looking at any type of large parking facility or any area where there has been a noted problem with car thefts.”