Police bait car nets arrest

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu police know you don't always catch fish when you go fishing. But late Thursday, the department's auto theft detail used the right bait and reeled one in.

A woman was arrested after she was caught in a specially equipped decoy car stolen earlier that night.

Since the start of the year, police have parked the Honda in areas with a history of auto thefts. It has a Global Positioning System and a remote-controlled "kill switch" to shut off the car's engine. Thursday night's arrest was the first under the program.

Lt. Hank Nobriga, head of auto theft detail, said the car was parked downtown at about 8 p.m. When a computer was checked at 11:15, the car was on the move. An hour later, police had caught up with it, shut off its engine and arrested the woman.

"In fact, the person was still sitting in the car trying to start the engine when we pulled up," Nobriga said.

The Honda was not damaged, he said, because the doors were unlocked.

The bait program is used in several other states. The Honolulu Police Department launched its version this year. The car has been parked at Ala Moana Center and in Waikiki, Makiki and Pearl City.

Between 500 and 600 cars are stolen on O'ahu each month, Nobriga said, down from nearly 800 a few years ago.

HPD will be adding other cars to the program, according to Nobriga, who said he doesn't believe that the decoy car is a form of entrapment.

"The vehicle is parked, windows are secured. We didn't have any keys taped to the outside of the door to ask them to steal it," he said. "There was no enticement. They have their choice of several hundred cars that are parked on the street."

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.