steal this car
By: jackieamsden
tags: bait cars, cars, culture jamming, photography, police, vancouver
Category: bikes, pedestrians and cars
Fight fire with fire, I suppose.
The premise of the Vancouver Police Department’s bait car program is that the tracking equipped cars are used to lure and then , apprehend unsuspecting car thieves.
While the bait cars themselves are hidden, the words ‘bait car’ are stenciled on concrete barriers and other prominent sites around the city, usually with an arrow pointing to an imaginary vehicle.
Apparently, the VPD has adopted the discourse of the ‘underground’, culture jamming, to fight crime.
Cutting edge marketing or cultural appropriation?
I came across one of those outside a parking garage last week. The only answer I could come up with is that it’s part of the plan to reduce car thefts. By planting reminders around town (maybe especially in ‘hot spots’ where a lot of thefts occur), the thieves will be discouraged from stealing cars at all.
Who knows? Maybe it’s something else.