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Operation Lucky Bag, the NYPD program that threatened to ensnare good Samaritans along with subway thieves, is making a comeback after being effectively shut down earlier this year. Initially, the program involved cops leaving bags of merchandise, wallets, or purses on subway benches. When someone picked them up and didn't immediately turn them over to the police or subway personnel, he or she was arrested. According to the police, Operation Lucky Bag netted 101 arrests of people with 716 prior arrests on their records.
Last week, the New York Times wrote there were actually 220 arrests, so 119 had no prior arrests to their names. One such person was Helen Calthorpe, who was arrested after picking up a bag with a phone in it while she was on her way to her job. And that gets to a serious flaw in OLB in our opinion - leaving decoy belongings on subway platforms, where people are usually hurried and an arriving train isn't going to wait for you to find a police officer or transit worker.
Judges eventually started throwing out OLB arrests, noting that people actually have ten days to turn in lost items. The NYPD is renewing the program, however, and rigging it for stiffer penalties. The dropped items now include legitimate credit cards (registered to cops' pseudonyms), the theft of which is a Class E felony and can result in four years in prison. And they've expanded the locales. According to the Times, cops have been leaving abandoned purses in stores such as Macy's.
Prosecutors say they'll focus on cases that involve sneaky behavior that indicates guilt, such as a man who found a purse in a store, removed the wallet and stuck it in his pocket, and then left the purse behind before attempting to leave. But that doesn't explain the police nabbing a guy who picked up at a wallet at the Grand Central Station. He told the Daily News he intended to return but rushed onto a train - only to be hauled out by the police, frisked, and questioned how many times he had been arrested.
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Can we say fishing?
How is this not entrapment?
what? is the NYPD bored or something?
Good to know. Next time I see a dropped wallet, I'll be sure to kick it onto the tracks. Thanks for the good use of our taxes, NYPD!
are my tax dollars paying for this retarded program? 'tis bullshit.
I'll take this opportunity to tell my own real Good Samaritan story. I was in the Port Authority waiting for a bus to take me to Kingston so I could pick up my broken-down car (another long story.) After going to the crapper, I realized my wallet was gone, and must've dropped out of my pocket (damn those short jean pockets!) When I went back to look for it, there was some homeless dude in the stall, and I figured it was gone forever.
The next day I get a call from someone who says "...I have something for you." and tells me how he found the wallet in the stall. 30 minutes later, he's at my door and returns my wallet, with the 30 bucks still in it.
I gave him all the cash and my thanks.
Obviously NYPD's priorities are in correct order.
the cases were thrown out of court and they are doing it again? does this make any sense?
so lets say i do find a bag and want to bring it to "lost and found" is that stealing too?
Don't these cops have real crimes to deal with insted of creating fake crimes to bust people with.
No wonder why so many people think cops are douchebags
this is why when I see something, I don't say something.
and they wonder why......
Wait, you can get a credit card under a pseudonym?
And, they can do these fake stings inside a Macy's?
don't forget, no snitching.
so lets say i do find a bag and want to bring it to "lost and found" is that stealing too?
Oh, and by the way, the comments are f'd up. You get an "Internal Error" when you post, but it looks like they're getting through anyway.
Maybe the server's drunk on Dewar's.
Don't help anyone out, it's not friggin' worth it, dude.
That's Old School NYC, Man!!!
All this is going to do is make honest people not pick up bags, wallets, etc. who try to get them back to their rightful owner. Brilliant!
This is insane. So they are trying to see who is honest and who is not? Reminds me of that movie with Tom Cruise. Arresting someone before the actual crime. Minority Report I do believe.
Insane.
yeah, can someone with legal knowledge explain how this isn't entrapment? so basically if i find a wallet on the street, i have to return it lest risk being arrested for something i basically stumbled across? how does this not reek of big brother?
Is there not enough real crime in NY for the cops to deal with?
Do they really need to create fake crimes?
Oh wait I for got cops are useless against preventing crime all they do is clean up afterward.
No wonder why some people have a low opinion of the NYPD
so if i find a wallet on the street somewhere i'm legally bound to turn it in? that's essentially what's being stated here, yeah? can someone with a legal background explain how this program isn't, in fact, entrapment?
have the NYPD does this with cash?
back in the Spring I found a $100 bill near the ticket booths in Grand Central. I brought it to the nearest booth I found. As I was talking to the ticket person, a guy flashed a badge and told me "I did a good thing." I said thanks and walked away.
Its one thing for electronics and other goods to be part of the sting but cash? Was it some random guy that took the money for himself?
I felt like I was on a hidden camera show the whole time.
They should put narcotics or bombs in the bags, that way they can be busting drug dealers and terrorists.
Or even put some child pron so they can protect the children. Please, won't someone think of the children?? Please, think of the children!
Guys... might want to get the server straightened out.
I don't know why everyone is so down on this project. It will be very successful. At ensuring that no one in NY ever helps any one else ever again.
i'd think that the term "subway theif" refers to someone who is pick pocketing, not someone who picks up an abandoned bag. and the police wonder why no one has respect for them...
travpard
Sorry, we couldn't hear you the first time. What?
Whatever happened to finders keepers, losers weepers?
God, the more I think about this the more it pisses me off. What if I find a wallet? I don't want to just leave it where a real thief might pick it up, but I also don't want some mouth breathing cops to arrest me just for looking out for other people.
My solution is that I will loudly proclaim, upon finding an item, "HEY, DID ANYONE LOSE A WALLET? I JUST FOUND A WALLET, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE CONTENTS TO ME IF YOU LOST A WALLET," and then I will jump my ass in the train as fast as I can before any dipshit cops come for me.
This is the DUMBEST thing i have ever heard of. I cannot believe police are wasting efforts on unsuspecting people like this. i am so irritated.
They should put narcotics or bombs in the bags, that way they can be busting drug dealers and terrorists.
Or even put some child pron so they can protect the children. Please, won't someone think of the children?? Please, think of the children!
what ever happened to "finder's keepers,loser's weepers?"
street bicycle theft is one of the biggest problems with alternative transportation. doing something like stopping real bicycle theft would make too much sense, woops i forgot ,commissioner kelly hates bicycles.
if you give a found item to a cop you are suppose to get a voucher for the wallets and the $ amount of the cash. i believe if the cash is not claimed by it rightful owner in X years it is returned to the finder
Instead of leaving empty bags on the subway the NYPD should leave doughy white guys on Rockaway bound A trains. That is a better bait.
Instead of leaving empty bags on the subway the NYPD should leave doughy white guys on Rockaway bound A trains. That is a better bait.
Instead of leaving empty bags on the subway the NYPD should leave doughy white guys on Rockaway bound A trains. That is a better bait.
New slogan for the trains:
If you see something, just ignore it if you know whats good for you
I suggest they take some 100 dollar bills throw them around Times Square and then arrest all who pick it up. Criminalize everything! WHY is Cannabis still illegal here? Why can city cops rough you up or lock you up on a whim? This is conditioning for the populace. Get them used to random searches, surveillance, fear and authority.
My fellow New Yorkers I gotta say this is your fault. You condone this type of behavior. The MTA rips you off numerous times and no one is in the streets. Why don't we have better air with things like Green Roofs bicycle lanes. The city is yours. Why don't you do something about it?
Better watch out, you know all those people without prior arrests were just waiting to pop their cherry sometime---TAKE 'EM DOWN WHILE THEIR HOTT!
THEY'RE** for the grammar fascists.
In NYC if you steal any wallet or handbag containing any credit card or any property with a value in excess of $1000 it is a Class E Felony 155.30 penal Law punishable up to 4 years! Petit Larceny 155.25 wasn't a serious enough arrest/collar to entrap someone for so they had American Express the sleaziest credit card company give them AE credit cards to plant in the wallets. Now if you steal over $1 million it is a Class B Felony punishable up to 25 years. Now that sounds like a big bust let's borrow a million and a penny from NYC billionaire Mayor Bloomberg and leave a open shopping bag with a cool mill and a penny and wait for some person to pick it up, pounce on him or her with guns drawn and give them 25 years zero tolerance. The police are becoming more like Nazis everyday in NYC they are mean and nasty!!! It really is sick and depraved what they do here!!!!!!!