Trapping the Entrappers

Radley Balko | December 16, 2007

So remember the story about New York City police leaving wallets and bags around, then arresting people who picked them up and walked by a cop without turning the found goods over?

I suggested someone do a "reverse sting," to see how much stuff turned over to authorities actually makes it back to its rightful owner. The point, here, is not necessarily that the police will steal the stuff, but that in most cases, you're going to have more luck contacting the owner yourself than turning over a found bag or wallet to a big city bureaucracy. This dumb entrapment operation basically makes criminals of people who make that decision.

Well, turns out the city's Metropolitan Transit conducted just such an experiment. They had subway riders turn 26 personal items to transit authorities, then tracked how many of the items made it back to the rightful owners. It didn't turn out so well. Only three of the 26 were properly returned. More:

The report said that the transit agency's lost property unit received more than 8,000 items each year and that only about 18 percent wound up back in the hands of their owners. Most unclaimed items were eventually auctioned off, the report said.

The audit also uncovered a chaotic system for handling property once it is turned in, with few safeguards. Often it can take weeks or months for lost items to make their way to the property unit's office where people can claim them.

Then there was the case of the lost earring. After it was found, a bus employee put the earring, which was set with what looked like a diamond, into an envelope for transfer to the lost property unit, the report said. But the envelope arrived empty.

Maybe NYC authorities should spend less time trying to bait city residents into committing crimes, and do a better job keeping their own employees in line.

Comments

|12.16.07 @ 11:58AM|#

Maybe NYC authorities should spend less time trying to bait city residents into committing crimes, and do a better job keeping their own employees in line.

Yes, if NYC authorities care more about preventing theft than they do about collecting fines and upping arrest totals.

|12.16.07 @ 12:24PM|#

HAHAHAHAHA!

|12.16.07 @ 12:34PM|#

Nothing we didn't know already. What I'd like to know is what the consequences of this will be.

I'll give you three guesses....

|12.16.07 @ 12:58PM|#

Pig Mannix,

Oooh, I know, I know. Jack and shit.

Lucas|12.16.07 @ 2:01PM|#

In the past 4 years, I have picked up 3 school ID's ($25 dollars to replace), a wallet, and a purse that I found on the ground. I returned all of them to their rightful owners with all items inside intact. And I would get a ticket for this!

SxCx|12.16.07 @ 2:31PM|#

I left my wallet in a Manhattan cab and miraculously received it in the mail two months later, missing nothing but $20 cash (which could've covered the postage). It was frankly shocking, not only because it's NYC, but because every public servant I talked to about retrieving it was a thankless asshole.

|12.16.07 @ 2:40PM|#

And Jack left town...

BakedPenguin|12.16.07 @ 3:17PM|#

Only three of the 26 were properly returned.

The other 23 were isolated incidents.

GILMORE|12.16.07 @ 4:16PM|#

SxCx | December 16, 2007, 2:31pm | #

I left my wallet in a Manhattan cab and miraculously received it in the mail two months later, missing nothing but $20 cash (which could've covered the postage). It was frankly shocking, not only because it's NYC, but because every public servant I talked to about retrieving it was a thankless asshole.

Tell me about it.

l left a $1200 bass guitar in the trunk of a cab coming home (drunk!) one eve. I realized what had happened about 20 mins later. CRied like a baby. About an hour later, there was honking outside. The guy found it when he got off shift, and drove it back to me. He got a $50 tip, and kisses on both cheeks.

The city? Forget about it. Fill out a piece of paper with some rude 300LB lady who is grabassing behind bulletproof glass all day. People who work for the city are totally useless.

BakedPenguin|12.16.07 @ 4:37PM|#

GILMORE - A $1200 bass? What was it?

VM|12.16.07 @ 5:08PM|#

Baked:

delicious, of course (pic of Mr. Steven Crane)

Episiarch|12.16.07 @ 5:33PM|#

GILMORE - A $1200 bass? What was it?

A Fender P-Bass can cost that easy.

|12.16.07 @ 5:41PM|#

A Fender P-Bass can cost that easy.

Yeah, but considering you can get one for $425 that's nearly identical besides some easily replaceable hardware, you'd be crazy to pay it...

For that kind of money get a Rickenbacker!

BakedPenguin|12.16.07 @ 6:16PM|#

Moose - what of Nessie, our underwater ally...?

Episiarch / Pig Mannix - That wasn't incredulity on my part, just curiosity. A friend of mine used to have a $3500 Alembic.

Currently, I have a Fernandez Gravity, which is on the low end of acceptable, and mainly used by metalheads. I have a SWR amp & cab, though, which nearly anything would sound great out of. The amp & cab are almost 10 years old now, but still sound incredible.

I agree w/ PM's comment about paying $1200 for one of the "American" series. I love the P-bass style, but you could pick up one from the early 80's at a guitar show for that price, with a lot of money left over. Or, as he said, get a Rick.

Robert|12.16.07 @ 7:06PM|#

This is why high crime areas can feel safer than low crime areas -- the police are occupied.

Zach|12.17.07 @ 2:54AM|#

This is why high crime areas can feel safer than low crime areas -- the police are occupied.

Wins the thread.

M|12.17.07 @ 6:14AM|#

I once found a barely used Bill of Rights someone had tossed out. Handed it right over to the cops, of course, is what I did.

|12.17.07 @ 10:42AM|#

Handed it right over to the cops, of course, is what I did.

Well, apparently they "misplaced" it. Quelle surprise, no?

M|12.17.07 @ 12:49PM|#

Y'don't suppose that when its rightful owner didn't step forward, not wanting it to go to waste they felt forced to appropriate it to themselves on behalf of the public good so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands?