VANCOUVER – Police will now be able to watch and listen to auto thieves in real time with the introduction of the Bait Car Live program, Solicitor General John van Dongen announced today as a part of the kick-off to April as Auto Crime Enforcement Month.

“A stolen vehicle in the hands of a car thief is like a 3,000-pound bullet driving down the road,”said van Dongen. “On top of that, police officers often face drug-fuelled car thieves armed with weapons such as knives and guns. This new Bait Car Live technology will greatly enhance officer safety and make our streets safer.”

Previous bait car technology did not allow for live monitoring; police could only view the tape after the vehicle was stopped. Officers were not able to determine how many suspects were in the vehicle, what they were planning, or if they were armed.

“Stopping a stolen vehicle can pose great danger to police because a suspect could have a gun,or there may be more than one person involved,” said Sgt. Gord Elias of the Integrated Municipal Auto Crime Team (IMPACT). “Bait Car Live allows a dispatcher to watch and listen to everything going on inside a bait car as it happens and relay that information instantly to the responding police unit.”

Auto Crime Enforcement month will also see police forces across B.C. ramping up efforts to arrest car thieves and drive down auto theft statistics. Auto theft dropped 16 per cent in British Columbia between 2007 and 2008, from 15,900 to 13,400 vehicles stolen. Since 2003, the launch year of the Bait Car program, there has been a 47 per cent decline in auto theft from 25,500 to 13,400.

“Since launching the bait car program in 2003, we’ve seen auto theft claims fall by about $40 million,” said Donnie Wing, ICBC’s senior vice-president of insurance, marketing and underwriting.“It’s one of the reasons why ICBC has been able to lower optional insurance rates 17 per cent over the past five years. Our three per cent reduction in 2009 alone totals a $50 million savings to our 3.1million customers.”

The Province has a number of strategies in the battle against vehicle theft. The IMPACT program uses Automatic Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology, which involves the deployment across the Lower Mainland of covert police cars equipped with on-board cameras and computers. ALPR can run up to 600 plates per hour looking for stolen vehicles. The Air One helicopter has also had success apprehending car thieves. Since it went fully operational in 2006, Air One has assisted or been directly involved in 146 stolen vehicle incidents resulting in the arrest of 218 people.As well, Air Two, the second police helicopter to take to the skies, was introduced recently and doubles the ability of police to apprehend criminals.

NEW WESTMINSTER – The Province will spend $1.8 million to more than triple the number of in car police cameras across B.C. to back more impaired and dangerous driving charges with indisputable evidence, Solicitor General John van Dongen announced today.

“We’ve all seen on TV the kind of footage these cameras gather: impaired drivers falling out of their vehicles, trying to flee on foot or even assaulting police officers who’ve just pulled them over,”said van Dongen. “This footage is irrefutable, puts judges at the scene of a crime, saves police paperwork and court time, and leads to more guilty pleas and convictions.”

The new cameras will bring to approximately 450 the number of patrol-car cameras across B.C., with 260 new units to be installed in RCMP traffic-duty vehicles and 60 in vehicles used by the Province’s 11 independent municipal police departments to promote road safety. Last April, the ministry funded the purchase and installation of 33 in-car cameras for use by independent departments,complementing the approximately 100 then in use by RCMP Traffic Services and Integrated Road Safety Units.

“Impaired driving alone continues to kill or injure about 3,300 people in B.C. every year,” said Supt. Norm Gaumont of RCMP B.C. Traffic Services. “Solid evidence like car-cam footage leads to convictions and, in turn, more consequences than ever for impaired and dangerous drivers – including mandatory use of an ignition interlock device after a single alcohol-related driving conviction.”