District County School Board Candidate Matt Stafford and others criticized me calling my thoughts foolish and hypothetical but in this Good Morning America story from 2012 Car Thief, 11, Takes Police 'Bait Car' for Joyride we learn that my hypothesis is in-fact quite plausible:
"I think myself, along with all of the other officers who were on the scene, were absolutely shocked that children this young could take the steps to actually steal a vehicle, to commit a felony," Sgt. Ferris Simmons told ABC News."
And this:
"The party was soon over for the three boys, whose faces were blurred in the video by police because they are minors, when one thinks he spots a police officer.
"Quiet," one says as they all crouch down in the car to avoid being seen.
"Slow down," says another.
Police tracked down the boy driver, whom police are not identifying because he is a minor, but only after two false starts.
The vehicle's GPS system twice notified police that the car was moving, but both times police tracked down the car they only found children playing outside.
It was only after police reviewed the surveillance video that they realized an 11-year-old was behind the wheel."
What's that? The bait cars aren't under constant live surveillance? Apparently not. People can steal bait cars and get away with it? Who knew? Evidently busy police officers have more important things to take care of first like stopping bank robbers and chasing down actual murderers. After all, GPD, like most police departments, remains always short handed and under funded.
Too bad the City finally filled in the rock quarry on the corner of Lombardy and Phillips Avenue or I know when those bait cars would be. Those black kids in Claremont Courts would see it as no more than just a game to drive them across the street into the quarry just as we redneck white boys from Bessemer would have done when we were playing along Phillips Avenue all those years ago. Just as soon as we figured out they were bait cars someone would have taken the dare. After all, boys will be boys. Isn't that right, Flushy?
Perhaps Nationwide Insurance, who provided the bait cars to the Greensboro Police Department, will cover the cost of any law suits should anyone be injured by their bait cars but can Nationwide Insurance replace dead children? Can the City of Greensboro.
Think police can stop the bait cars before they crash? Bait car stolen, crashes into several things in St. Paul. Guess not. Let's hope the thief wasn't a child.
Now Nationwide could have provided Greensboro with bait cars that don't move and lock the thieves inside like their doing in Britain but what's the fun in that? American cops love the thrill of a high speed chase.
Of course you haven't really stolen the car until you drive it so I guess when the real intention is to show an increase in the number of car thieves prosecuted bait cars that don't move wouldn't work so well. After all, there's no money in preventing crime, only in prosecuting crime can police departments take in more income. If we had zero crime City Council would lay off all our cops.
So has anyone ever been killed by someone driving a bait car? From Wrongful death lawsuit filed over bait car accident death of Texas woman:
"A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a Texas woman whose vehicle was struck by a police bait car.
"Members of the Dallas city council have been briefed on the family’s Texas wrongful death lawsuit. The council will vote on Wednesday on whether to authorize a proposed settlement of $245,000."
Looks like Nationwide didn't pick up the tab on that one. That's not the only one. And as for being able to turn the car off from somewhere in headquarters:
"The police, however, were too late. Ramirez slammed into Reyes at 75 mph, killing her."
Had it been a child the settlement would have been a multi-million dollar amount.
And in Albuquerque Sued Over Bait Car Crash they write:
"According to the homeowner, part of the problem was that the bait car was allowed to enter into a residential neighborhood."
Hell fire, here in Greensboro, police are parking the bait cars in residential neighborhoods.
The Greensboro City Council and GPD can continue to ignore my warnings if they wish but make no doubt I e-mail these post to them so they have been informed. So if and when there is such an incident in Greensboro they will not be able to claim ignorance and attournys for the plaintiffs will use these posts and my e-mails to significantly increase the dollar amounts of the lawsuits the City of Greensboro must pay.
And with that the City's insurance rates go up and insurance companies like Nationwide who provided Greensboro with the bait cars, cash in once again.
You see, Folks, that's how Fascism works.
