Bait Car Season 4 Episode 4

Bait Car Season 4 Episode 4 can be watched and enjoy on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 8:30pm EST on truTV channel. Title of the brand new episode is: EPISODE: 4
A bait car, also called a decoy car, is a vehicle used by law enforcement agencies to capture car thieves. The vehicles are specially modified, with high-tech features including GPS tracking and audio/video surveillance technology, and can be remotely monitored and controlled by law enforcement personnel. A remote controlled immobilizer (known as a "kill" device or kill switch in law enforcement jargon) may be installed in the vehicle allowing police to remotely disable the engine and lock all doors from the inside, preventing escape.
The bait car, often filled with valuable items to draw attention to it, is parked un-attended in a high auto-theft area. In some cases, the vehicle may be simply left unlocked with the keys in the ignition. When the car is stolen, officers are immediately alerted, and can monitor the vehicle and send commands to control it such as disabling the engine, locking the doors or honking the horn. The newest technology being deployed in bait cars is live audio/video streaming that allows law enforcement personnel to see and hear inside a bait car before approaching it to determine how many suspects are in the car, what they are planning and if they are armed.
Although laws are regional, it is questionable whether the practice of deploying bait vehicles is entrapment. If a car is just left by law enforcement and monitored, it cannot be considered entrapment. However, in jurisdictions such as Southern California, police have been known to create a public commotion such as an argument between two individuals in the middle of the street before leaving the bait car with the engine running and the driver's side door open. In some situations, the car is not even properly parked. The key in deciding when police are using a bait car illegally is whether they leave it in such a state that would entice someone who would normally not commit a crime, to do so.
In 2010, the Anti-Vehicle Crime Association of Minnesota presented an award to the Minneapolis Police for its Bait Vehicle Program, which had been running for twelve years at the time. In 2002, the Minneapolis program inspired a similar project in Essex, UK.
The largest bait car fleet in North America, which employs the Minneapolis model, is operated by the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT), based in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Surrey was designated the "car theft capital of North America" by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2002. Their bait car program was launched in 2004, and has contributed to a 55% drop in auto theft since then.
Bait cars can be used as part of a honey trap, a form of sting operation, in which criminals not known to the police are lured into exposing themselves. Unlike a sting operation that targets a known or suspected criminal, a honey trap establishes a general lure to attract unknown criminals.
Bait cars (and the stings they are used in) have been featured in numerous documentary and reality television programs, including COPS and World's Wildest Police Videos. They were also the exclusive focus of a 2007 Court TV (now truTV) series simply titled Bait Car.