Attention all car thieves: Police will be watching you

Las Vegas police Lt. Robert DuVall anticipates he will be laughing even more at the expense of car thieves in Clark County in the coming year.

That's because a Metropolitan Police Department program that utilizes bait cars to catch criminals will soon be used by Henderson and North Las Vegas police as well as the Nevada Highway Patrol.

Thieves who steal bait cars can drive only a short distance before the car is turned off by an officer monitoring the vehicle. A camera in the car captures the reactions of criminals, caught like rats in a trap.

"We can actually see that look on their faces when they realize they've been had," DuVall said Wednesday. "It's nice to turn that around on them."

Las Vegas police launched the program in October 2006 and have used it to nab 150 car thieves, about 95 percent of whom have been successfully prosecuted, DuVall said.

Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson police are all reporting that car thefts are down this year, but they want to reduce the rate even more.

DuVall said the expansion of the program will entail setting up bait cars in all the agencies' jurisdictions around the valley. He would not say how many bait cars the program will have.

Two nonprofit organizations -- the Nevada Insurance Council and the National Insurance Crime Bureau -- donated money to pay for the bait cars, DuVall said. The maintenance of hardware and software for the program costs less than $7,000 a year, he said.

DuVall's quest is to get Clark County off the National Insurance Crime Bureau's list of areas with the highest rates of auto thefts in the country. The organization labeled Clark County the worst in the nation last year.

"Nobody wants to be on that list," North Las Vegas police spokesman Sean Walker said.

DuVall and other authorities say Clark County will not be at the top of the list for 2007.

Auto thieves need to take heed, said Henderson police spokesman Keith Paul.

"Once you get into a bait car, that's the end," he said. "The car will shut down. The doors will lock. The boys will come after you."

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.