Capture Car.

[Standard Dave]

ARREST AFTER POLICE TRAP
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12:00 - 04 September 2006
Another suspected car thief has been arrested after a police Capture Car was broken into in the city.

Police have been deploying the cars across the city since April in an effort to trap criminals.

Capture Cars are specially equipped and have been used in several locations in the last few weeks.

Last week a 27-year-old man was arrested after one of the vehicles was broken into and a Sat Nav stolen.

Timothy Sobers, from St Ann's, was charged with theft from the Capture Car and the theft of power tools from another car in Radcliffe-on-Trent in June.

He will appear before Nottingham magistrates on Thursday.

Numerous arrests have been made since the deployment of Capture Cars and last month Joseph Healy, 24, from Sneinton, became the first person to be jailed after he tried to break into one.

It is impossible to tell the difference between police Capture Cars and normal vehicles. They are changed regularly and deployed in different areas.

The cars are fitted with state-of-the-art technology that has already proved successful in reducing auto crime in other parts of the country.

Chief Inspector Mark Holland said: "Capture Cars are proving to be an effective weapon in the fight against autocrime. Anyone thinking of breaking into a vehicle should think again because it could be one of ours. And if it is, we will catch you."

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/di...folderPk=78486

Just wondering if this sort of thing is legal and/ or used in other places around the world?

It cirtainly is great fun working the operations where they are used the look on the guys face is priceless.

[TXCharlie]

I love stories that that

Around here they're called "Bait Cars". The police around here really seem to have good luck with them according to the media.

There are also GPS devices that can be imbedded in ordanary items (such as boom boxes and golf bags) to catch theives - Some of them will page you when they're moved more than a few feet, then use the Cell Phone system to continuously report their location to an internet-based map, so you don't have to physically watch them. I haven't heard whether those devices are in actual use or not though (but sigh... my PD didn't want to experiment when I worked for a company that makes GPS trackers that might work and offered to try to get them a free one to play with).