Behind-the-scenes: CMPD car theft sting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Watch out car thieves: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers are planting bait cars across town. For the first time, WCNC went behind the scenes of a sting.

CMPD launched its bait car program with the help of Nationwide Insurance in December, planting specially designed cars to catch car thieves in the act. The cars look just like any other, but thieves don’t realize they are wired with cameras and GPS systems, so CMPD is alerted when a thief breaks inside. Officers can track the car’s every move and lock the doors so the thief can’t escape.

Several undercover officers targeted the Eastway Division on Friday afternoon, where car thefts are up 83 percent over the last three months in one hotspot alone. An officer leaves the unmarked car unlocked and running in various parking lots, convenience stores or strip malls.

“Auto thefts are up in this area. That’s why we’re hitting the area where auto thefts are starting to rise, trying to get some of those down and catch some of the criminals out here stealing the cars,” said Detective Matt Hollern.

The sting is time consuming but worth it. Most criminals are repeat offenders.

“It’s keeping them off the streets; that's the big part. It’s very satisfying to put them in jail. We've got one boy who confessed to 20 car arrests,” said Detective L.R. Rango, Jr.

Since the program’s inception, the bait cars have led to 22 arrests, suspects who have a total of more than 160 prior arrests.  

Officers say the program is not only successful to catch thieves, but to get them prosecuted, because the crimes are all caught on tape.

“It is a slam dunk. They are on video stealing a car that is not theirs,” said Sgt. Rich Tonsberg.

“I can’t think of what defense they would come up with.”

In a few hours, plenty of people stop to linger, but no one takes the bait. That too is a win-win for police.

“Put the shadow of doubt in their mind. If they don't steal it, we're successful,” said Tonsberg.

CMPD hopes to expand the program by using seized drug money to add more bait cars to their fleet.