If you’ve spent any time at all on car forums, you are bound to have run into bait car videos. A bait car is a vehicle owned by the police that is intended to be stolen. They are generally models that have a high theft rate such as Ford F150s, Honda Civics, and Acura Integras. The bait cars are loaded with GPS tracking equipment, surveilance cameras and microphones. The most important technology inside a bait car is a device that allows police officers to remotely disable the vehicle allowing police to move in and apprehend the driver.

The Vancouver Police Department has been using bait cars with great success since December 2004. From Spring 2003 until Spring 2004, over 26,000 vehicles were stolen in the Vancouver area. Two years after the program started from Spring 2006 until Spring 2007, 17,000 vehicles were stolen. In just two years car theft dropped a staggering 35%.

The Calgary Police Department announced today it will be starting its own bait car program. Every day, an average of 17 vehicles are stolen off Calgary streets. The yearly hit to insurance companies is over $60M, and the insurance companies hope that the new bait car program will allow them to reduce premiums for motorists.

I think it is about time that Calgary gets its own bait car program with the amount of stolen cars we see reported on beyond every week. I look forward to seeing the videos that are posted by the Calgary Police to further discourage people from stealing cars.