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If you find something of value on the subway, be wary. It could be the NYPD trying to catch you in their "Lucky Bag" sting. Yet another report has surfaced of someone arrested by the NYPD. This February, Aquarius Cheers (best name ever?) was arrested for picking up a bag of electronics that was on a subway. Cheers and his partner, Kia Graves, saw an abandoned Verizon bag, picked it up, and, despite seeing a police officer nearby, boarded an arriving train, leading to his arrest.
Cheers, who we can assume is all about harmony and understanding, told NY1 that he was, "going to look for a receipt with a credit card number and then take it back to the store." The police say that not turning the bag over to the officer was grounds for the arrest for theft. While Cheers agreed to a plea that was not an admission of guilt following the arrest, the district attorney's office dismissed the charges yesterday.
Since the introduction of the NYPD's "Lucky Bag" sting, civil liberty groups have voiced concern and last June, Helen Calthorpe was arrested in the same operation. On top of that, it's a clear violation of the finders keepers rule. While an NYPD spokesman said that the operation is still continuing, a ranking member of the department's Transit Bureau told NY1 the operation was suspended a month ago because of litigation.
Photograph by dagomatic on Flickr
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Cop: Jeeze this job is boring. Let's entrap some people.
Cop2: Derrrrr OK.
Isn't abandonded property up for grabs?
Entrapment is illegal.
Just like douche bag cops.
When your are too much of a pussy to confront real crime. Concoct ways to create criminals out of average people.
Way to go NYPD! You suck royally!
I have even les respect for you thugs now.
Is it a requirement to be a narrow minded piece of shit, entrapment tool to be a cop?
Creating crime is big business.
Just like douche bag cops.
When your are too much of a pussy to confront real crime. Concoct ways to create criminals out of average people.
Way to go NYPD! You suck royally!
I have even les respect for you thugs now.
Is it a requirement to be a narrow minded piece of shit, entrapment tool to be a cop?
Creating crime is big business.
As Chris Rock mentions, cops Want Crime,
without crime they have no job.
And, with the crime rates dropping like a rock, one has to be creative in getting crime back on the streets.
Seems par for the course for NY cops.
When cops are too much of a pussy to confront real crime. They concoct ways to create criminals out of average people. Why face a potentially violent criminal when you can turn harmless people into a criminal by leaving a bag on the ground.
Way to go NYPD! You suck royally!
I have even less respect for you thugs now.
Is it a requirement to be a narrow minded piece of crap, entrapment tool to be a cop?
Creating crime is big business.
Fucking. KIDDING. me.
Who the fuck authorized this waste of money and time? FIRE THE BITCH
A friend of mine got stung with that in Penn Station a few months ago. She sat down on a bench and there was an Apple Store bag with a brand new iPod in it underneath her seat ... she was waiting for a friend and was there for half an hour, and when the friend never showed, she left and took the bag with her ... and was immediately arrested by two cops who'd been watching her the whole time. She's fighting the case.
It's so unbelievably illegal that it galls me to even think about this happening. Entrapment, entrapment, entrapment!
This is so stupid! How do they expect people to even KNOW where the lost and found or whatever is. And furthermore if I found something like that I wouldn't trust the mta employees or the cops to not keep it for themselves anyway.
The commenters are confusing "entrapment" with "temptation." According to Slate's "Explainer" column, in order to successfully argue "entrapment," a defendant must prove the following:
Number three is crucial here: this operation is clearly aimed at people who have priors, demonstrating their "predisposal."
What do you expect? The NYPD has eradicated all other crimes in the city, so you have to figure they need to do something. Right?
What? They haven't eradicated all other crime in the city? Then WTF are they doing?
Wow, that's awful. If I found a bag on the subway, I would look and see if there was any identification, and try to get it back to the owner, but I guess there's no reward for being a good guy anymore!
Reminds me of the time I was on the subway on Christmas day, and a man and his family stood up to walk off the train. His wallet fell to the ground, and I picked it up and gave it to him. Guess from now on I'll just leave wallets on the ground and let people receive identity theft for Christmas.
jeee-ZUZ, don't cops have more pressing problems to address??? argh!!
Rob, that's a great question. I'll have to review some property law to figure out what NYC's finders' laws are. Entrapment's a stretch, but I'd argue this isn't even a crime to begin with. It's not like you "found" the bag on your co-worker's desk. Plus, any attempt at finding the owner would require taking off with the bag.
Huge, huge waste of police resources.
I kind of want them to be able to continue to do this for one reason only:
I cannot wait for the day when they leave a bag somewhere and an observant civilian calls 911 to report a suspicious package, leading to a BOMB SCARE and evacuations CAUSED BY THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING US. Can't wait for them to try to explain that one on the evening news.
LOL light bulb, i was just imagining the same scenario.
how is taking a bag left behind a crime?
all this has done is now isolated individuals even more than they already were in the undergrounds of nyc. no one will dare help another for fear of prosecution. sigh.
Good luck upholding these in court. I'm betting anyone that fights it will win. Most people are probably too embarassed and sign off on a ticket and get on with their day. How are they ever going to prove that the person was intending on keeping the bag, and not trying to find some other way of finding the owner. NYPD can't seem to get anything right.
the law of ABANDONMENT needs to be used as a defense.
what if you decide to pick up an ABANDONED newspaper? ham sandwich? t-shirt?
Abandoned does not distinguish amongst diff items except for those things with titles.
"despite seeing a police officer"?
Yeah, okay. How do the police ensure that they're seen by the person who finds the bag? Do they jump around and wave their arms?
PAY ATTENTION PEEPLE
When you see some abandoned thing on the subway you are supposed to panic and call the cops about a suspicious packages. Then hope the subway system shuts down. Maybe even has a "lockdown" (cool word).
Then when it comes out it's an ipod in a bag, you and the cops can all look like idiots. Learn from Beantown, please!
The NYPD has resorted to punking people? Don't they have better things to do? Sheesh. Lamest thing ever.
Um, yeah, when I see an unattended bag about 55% of me thinks it's a bomb. This is just sad.
I would like to know what the citation (code) is and exactly how it is worded . . . and, yes, does it technically apply to those newspapers that we pick up???
Let's see . . . they could charge the person abandoning the newspaper with littering and the person picking it up with theft . . . double-play, and the inning is over.
Fuck Tha Police!!!
Kill tha police!!!
a few years ago on my way home from work (midtown south) i found an NYPD badge on teh ground. I picked it up and walked it to the midtown south precinct. I told the desk officer that i found this badge on the street and was here to return it. instead of thanking me, he proceeded to grill me with questions like, "why do you have this badge?"
"i just told you, i found it on the street, you're lucky it's me returning it and not some thug stealing it and using it for a crime." he then sneered at me and said, "you know it's illegal to posses a badge of a NYC police officer..."
i looked at him, turned around and walked out. what a dick!
This is NYC! This is America! This isn't Japan. We should not be expected to behave like decent human beings. Finders keepers losers weepers.
LMFAO!!!!!!!! I've heard of this stunt in the pass . It's a stupid thing to do but if done properly it can be done legally . If you see something like this on the train and there's an officer standing at the other end of the car seemingly paying you no attention somethings up ! It amazes me how people get caught doing the dumbest of things ! I understand it wasn't attended and all . This person should have at least waited until the cop got off the train to make sure . I mean there were most likely Dt's (Detectives) posted on the train coordinating the operation . See if the cop in uniform leaves the train then who do you report the bag to ? You sure can't report it to the under covers watching you . All of this is just a big waste of time, & money . If this guy is smart he'll sue the city for entrapment .
That's "Past", I have to slow down when I get to typing these posts !
About a year and a half ago, on the last friday of the month I was trapped by cops with my friends on E 17th street. I was told that if I locked up my bike the lock would be cut. If I tried to walk out with my bike I would be arrested. So I left my bike, unlocked and walked away. The police called it abandoned property and stole it.
The story was, the guy found the bag and the train was coming so they didn't have any time to look for a cop. The bag was on the platform, not the train.
They had tickets to the circus or something with their daughter who was with them.
I found a portable dvd player at columbus circle once, the MTA maintenance guy got to it before I did.
There's only so much of this shit white residents of the city will take, it will backfire.
Throw the bag immediately into the trash, if you can. They're "bomb-proof" right? What will they do then? Serves 'em right!
Gotta love the cops. The next thing they'll tell us is that crime didn't go down.
You mean the mayor is lying, oh you fuzz.