The Integrated Municipal Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) launched its Bait Car Program into Williams Lake to help combat and auto theft epidemic in that community.
British Columbia as a whole has enjoyed a 35% decrease in auto theft since 2004 but Williams Lake was clearly bucking the trend. Auto theft in the small community of about 12,000 people experienced 74 stolen vehicles in the month of August 2007 which represented a 350% increase over the same month from the previous year.
To tackle the problem IMPACT quietly sent up several bait cars and the local RCMP began to plant them strategically throughout the city. It didn’t take long before two suspects were caught on audio and video stealing a bait car and IMPACT went up to Williams lake to warn local car thieves that ‘Bait Cars Are Everywhere – Steal One, Go to Jail’.
Television coverage of the news conference can be seen above.
