NOBODY steals cop car with cops watching in #Santa #Fe

Police find no takers in holiday Auto theft sting, tainted windows prevent crooks from looking inside to see electronics in car.    Newspaper invited to observe.    The New Mexican                

Nobody took the bait.

     But that doesn't mean police are calling a three-day, overtime-approved holiday burglary sting operation a total failure.

     Six detectives with the Santa Fe Police Department spent three eight-hour shifts over the holiday weekend — Friday through Sunday — waiting and watching an unlocked 2012 Toyota Sequoia filled with electronics and other items associated with the shopping surge after Thanksgiving.

COMMENT:  A LITTLE LIKE INVITING A BUNCH OF PEOPLE TO A PARTY AND NO ONE ARRIVES.

     The hope was to snag an opportunistic burglar using the jam-packed parking lots around Santa Fe to make a quick score of stolen loot by stealing items from unlocked vehicles.

"Obviously there is always an uptick of auto burglaries around the holiday season, usually starting at Thanksgiving and running through Christmastime," Sgt. Peter Neal, the head of the Santa Fe Police Department's Property Crimes Division, said. "We didn't get any bites on this operation, but I think we'll do this operation again in the near future at some other locations that have a high number of auto burglaries."

COMMENT: ESPECIALLY IF YOU GUYS CONTINUE WITH THE OVERTIME.

     The good news for this past weekend, Neal pointed out, was that not only were there no takers on the SFPD bait car, there were no reported auto burglaries in the parking lot of a local business in the city limits on either Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, or on Saturday (SFPD did not yet have Sunday's burglary statistics available late Sunday night).

COMMENT: AUTO THIEVES OBSERVE THE HOLLIDAYS.

     The New Mexican spent several hours with detectives working the operation Friday and a short time Saturday, but didn't observe anyone even peeking into the bait car, let alone attempting to open the doors or stealing property inside.

COMMENT: WERE THE REPORTERS ON OVERTIME?

     First, the dealer-donated Toyota Sequoia that was used was high and had tinted windows, making it nearly impossible for a person to casually observe the items inside that were supposed to be enticing the would-be burglars.

COMMENT: NOW THAT IS A REAL SCREW UP – THE AUTO THIEVES COULDN’T EVEN SEE THE EXPENSIVE STUFF INSIDE WAITING TO BE STOLEN???

     The second possible tweak coming for future operations is to stage the vehicle later in the day to hit more common burglary times as opposed to going for the highest-traffic shopping times, which tend to be earlier in the day than when most of the city's more regular auto burglars are known to operate.

COMMENT:  ON THE OTHER HAND, EARLIER IN THE DAY IS MUCH MORE CONVENIENT FOR THE COPS AND THE REPORTER.