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."
Avoid nyc like the plauge
Morally there may be an obligation to seek the owner but this is the exact opposite of taking by force..or subterfuge.
This article is not written with entrapment in mind but rather race as the central issue. For that the writer can pound sand.
If there wasn't, then he didn't have much choice other than transport it or leave it for someone with less pure intentions.
Like I said, as a "sting," this does little more than put folks in a no-win situation.
Alayo, who is from Peru, felt the eyes of all the rush-hour commuters on him as he was searched by officers.Why? That being asked:"I was so ashamed, my face went red and people were looking," he said.
"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."I've seen episodes of Cops on TV where they conduct "sting" operations using decoy "drunks". I don't know, the jury is out on this one.
Seems to me the way they're prosecuting the "war" against thieves is that any "Joe" that a lone wallet on a bench is to be left alone (for recovery by LEO's), or that citizens should notify that such wallet is sitting there by its lonesome self, or after taking possession of said wallet should make a bee-line to the nearest LEO to the exclusion of all other obligations.
One day some time ago I walked out of a local Meijer's store. I noticed a pristine gift-wrapped package off to the side as I transitted the store's vestibule. Immediately as I picked it up, and noticed that it contained "air", I immediately felt immensely stupid for that act; here we're being admonished to report "suspicious" packages, and I just picked up the epitome of "suspicious" packages.
OTOH, we "citizen" could just close our eyes to what's going on around us and consider whatever unusual is noticed as being a "SEP".
A few weeks ago the guy upstairs to my apartment had been going to town with the stereo since 10 A.M. every couple hours (interspaced with loud yelling, banging, pounding, etc). At 2 A.M the following day I called the cops. They told me it was a private property issue and that I should call management the following Monday. To their credit they did make an appearance nevertheless. They showed up about 10 minutes later. Everything was cool for a wile.
suddenly, at 4:30 A.M. the guy started his stereo up again. I went upstairs to politely ask him to turn it down. I knocked on the door and suddenly the door opened, and from total darkness the tenent lunged at me with a baseball bat. I fled, while pressing the 911 speed-dial. As I was talking to the dispatcher some feet away, and down the landing, he's yelling at me that he's already called the cops on me.
They came and took him away. I was admonished not to confront him any more, and that I should call the police instead. Despite the initial occurance, the cops were adament that such confrontation could result me staring straight into the barrel of a gun (point blank). They revised, ammended and extended their remarks that I call 911 instead of confrontation.
Yeah, I know. Nevertheless, any wisdom inherent in such statement is predicated on the premise that its best for us to live our "compartmentalized" lives and not be concerned about anything else. Such wisdom that is; my how far we've progressed since the Stone Age, eh?
this is what the a-hole shmuck shumer wants more US tax payer mney to fund.....this is what he calls...homeland security!!!!
Note that token booths are equipped with cameras for keeping tabs on the clerks, who are unionized and make $30,000 a year.
NY and PD
Entrapment.
Token booths are equipped with cameras that record the (unionized, $30,000 a year salary) clerks’ every move. Even when you hand it to a cop, you are handing it to a complete stranger of indeterminate honesty. (And here’s the kicker - according to the article, these people walked by uniformed cops without handing the wallet over).
Well, a re-read of the article revealed that these people walked by uniformed cops without handing the wallet over. Understand that New York City is around 50% black and Hispanic*. Like it or not, blacks commit over 60% of NYC's crimes, and Hispanics commit most of the rest. And criminals in New York City tend to allege police brutality or overzealousness every time they get caught.
* Clearly, most blacks and Hispanics aren't criminals. But most criminals are black or Hispanic. I've not only seen stats to that effect - everyone I know - of any color - who's been mugged or robbed at gunpoint identified his assailant as black or Hispanic.
Read my post 34.
So would I if the train were in the station.
Shouldn't they use the same resources to find real thieves, not stop people who find something, and then try to discern whether they were going to return it or not.
DuH, to many donut's maybe?
Bttt
I’m glad to see this.
It means that NYC is completely free of serious crime and they can focus on the small things like this.
What? They still have crime? Well, this is just stupid, then.
That is a major joke! We read about them by the hundreds here all the time! LOL
Same here! And not having a cell phone, what the heck am I supposed to do?
back around 1966 or 67 I was about 16 and was skiing at Boyne Mountain in northern Michigan when I found a big fat wallet on the ski slope. Being the good, honest and naive kid that I was, I immediately took it down to the lift operator assuming he would locate its rightful owner. Yea, right!
One of those winters I also found a pair of new skis hidden in a pine grove near my house (I have no idea how they got there but they were obviously stolen) so I had my step-dad turn them over to the local police department. I could easily have kept them because I was always skiing on years old equipment given to me by an older cousin in Charlevoix but we had to do the right thing.........I don't regret any of the above actions.
Entrapment...Wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.