Posted on 12/09/2007 1:24:33 PM PST by Dan Evans
He was trying to do a good deed - but ended up feeling like a common criminal.
Freelance photographer Carlos Alayo says he was late for a business meeting when he spotted a wallet lying abandoned on a subway platform bench.
He picked it up and put it in his bag, with every intention of later finding its owner, but as he rushed to board the 6 train last Wednesday at Grand Central, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Where's the wallet?" the undercover cop asked him.
Alayo, 32, is one of the latest New Yorkers ensnared in the NYPD's clampdown on thieves - known as Operation Lucky Bag.
After giving the officers the wallet, he was frisked, made to put his hands against the wall and hand over his identification so they could do a criminal history check.
"It wasn't even crossing my mind what was inside [the wallet]. I was trying to get to my appointment," Alayo said.
"It made me feel like I was a criminal, like I did something wrong. The look on [the cop's] face, it was like he already knew that I was arrested.
"He said, 'Don't lie to me, just tell me how many times you've been arrested.'
"That just stabbed me right there in the heart."
Alayo, who is from Peru, felt the eyes of all the rush-hour commuters on him as he was searched by officers.
"I was so ashamed, my face went red and people were looking," he said.
"God knows what they were thinking, a Spanish guy on the platform surrounded by cops. It made me feel very uneasy inside.
"I've been in this country 17 years and not felt discriminated against until that day," Alayo said.
The decoy operation involves planting shopping bags, purses, backpacks and wallets around the subway system, where unsuspecting passersby are watched to see how they react.
The plants used to be worth a few hundred dollars at most.
Now they contain real American Express Cards, issued under pseudonyms to the Police Department. Theft of a credit card is grand larceny, a Class E felony, so anyone cops believe has the intention of stealing the decoy wallet or bag could face up to four years behind bars.
"Even property which is lost or mislaid can be stolen," said NYPD Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne. "A person who takes or finds property which is lost or mislaid has a legal obligation to make efforts to return the property to its owner, which can include delivering the property to the police."
Last year, the NYPD's Transit Bureau arrested 101 individuals with prior arrest histories through the decoy program. Those 101 people had a combined total of 761 prior arrests, Browne said. On at least 178 other occasions, the bag left on the bench or seat was turned over to proper authorities.
Alayo says he has no criminal record - save for one summons several years ago for public urination. The cops let him go last week when they found no outstanding warrants - or reason to charge him.
The NYPD is under fire for targeting minorities for its stop-and-frisk policies, and the New York Civil Liberties Union believes Operation Lucky Bag needs to be abandoned.
"Policies like this are hellbent on stopping people from being good Samaritans," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
"A process like this is a pretext for racial profiling. I'm sure the NYPD has far more sophisticated tactics at their disposal than dropping wallets on the train."
NYPD
Courtesy
Professionalism
Respect
My foot.
No one is THIS stupid. You can't even call this stupid. It would be s-t-o-o-o-o-p-i-d!!!
Anyone who is going to set up a sting will want the net to catch law breakers. If I see a wallet on the ground, I will pick it up. Then I'll take a run at finding the owner.
If that's illegal, call me a criminal.
If I'm on the jury when such a guy is brought in, I'll be held in contempt because I won't able to control my laughter.
If this guy turned out to be an illegal alien, I would suggest he be turned loose and any cop associated with this be deported to this guy's native land. That would be a net plus for the United States.
Indeed, I think cops can be as stupid as college professors. Seriously, though, c'mon...no one is this stupid.
I wouldn't trust a token booth clerk to be honest.
People should be free to do the right thing.
Would that apply to guns laws as well......NJ has it all over NY if that is the case...
“What in the world is wrong with the NYPD”?
Problem with this “sting” is it entraps both the guilty and innocent. I’m suspicious about this guy’s intent but it’s possible he’s telling the truth, and there is no way to prove otherwise.
If the cops want to do a real sting, dress cops up as old ladies a la Sylvester Stalone in Nighthawks and go at it.
As I remember New York, suprisingly, ranked among the highest of honest cities. Over all, the survey proved that Americans are, by in large, very honest folk.
This NYC Police Sting is beyond the pale!
you don't hear about this in the bronx or brooklyn because the people who pick up the wallets up there have warrants and priors. and you have actual crime going on up there in the outer boroughs. this is only news in manhattan.
Money, pure and simple.
A little extreme don't you think? If that were true they would be shooting themselves with there own weapon.
Oh, yeah, right.
Never mind.
My husband and I picked up a purse scattered in the middle of the road. Picked it up and put it in the car with us. Pulled into a nearby parking lot and went through the wallet, found a lot of cash and a driver’s license with a name and address. The address was just down the street so we went that direction and arrived in time to see a woman dashing out of the house with a hysterical expression on her face. It was the same face as on the driver’s license. I rolled down the window and said “Are you looking for this?” and held the purse out to her.
Heh heh! She had apparently driven for a block or two from the store with the purse on top of her car, and when she turned it fell off into the middle of the street where we found it.
She tried to give us a cash reward, but we declined. I told her I couldn’t salvage her ink pen, it had been run over, but that her lipstick was ok!
“What in the world is wrong with the NYPD?”
I think the question should be, what in God’s name is happening to the police in our country?
I used to respect law enforcement until I was arrested at my house over a year ago for supposedly sending bomb threats to an airport.
You would not believe the idiotic assumptions, lies and fabricated evidence used to obtain the search warrant.
In their attempts to get me to confess, they even threatened to shoot my dog.
Of course nothing was found and the charges were dropped after about a couple of weeks, but the damage to my reputation was already done.
What’s most amazing is how stupid these cops were - how easy it was to find and obtain evidence that exposes their perjury and belligerent attitude.
A lawsuit has been filed!
Don’t be so suspicious.
I was in NYC and racing to the airport. Dropped cash wallet and cellphone (I carry one cash, accessible, wallet and one with credit cards etc.)
A few days later, visiting family in another state I got a call from the New Yorker who had picked up the wallet in the street, found the phone number list on the (locked) phone and, at his own expense, called those numbers until he found me so he could return the wallet (with every penny) and the phone.
Yes, I mailed back a reward.
Thank you for that story, it brightened my day. Glad the lipstick was okay :P
But this is a joke
Hey NEW YORKERS please post bills on every things warning your fellow new yorkers of the scam......
If it were me, I’d take it...and then try to identify the owner by the contents. I doubt I’d turn one in to a ticket booth. I know I’m honest, but I know nothing about the person in the booth.
Was there anyone there to turn the wallet in too ?
Tokens are dispensed vs attendants in a booth in some places, cops are plains clothes, no lost and found department near said bench ?? LOL....etc etc .....
Take em too court......
Police Sting Operation Lucky Bag Has Some Calling Entrapment
I guess the lesson for New Yorkers is to just ignore unattended bags on the subway. Which is a very stupid thing to teach people in this day and age.
frightening. it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d do to try to find the owner, rather than leave on a bench at GCS .. no more!
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