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."
But the fellow stung in this incident was given no such chance.
Who is the idiot who came up with this plan?
I once found a wallet at a public parking lot in Anchorage across from the Captain Cook Hotel. It was filled with money and cards. I carried it with me to my conference, where I called the police and waited for them to come and get the wallet.
This kind of entrapment as reported is stupid beyond words. I would have picked up the wallet and waited until I got back to my apartment, then called the cops. So I would have been arrested for theft. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
There are so many things wrong with this statement, coming from the New York chapter of the ACLU. Given the amount of effort the ACLU has made to encourage people not to be Christian, I wonder if Donna even knows what a Samaritan was, or if it was Jesus who told us we should try to be a good one.
What moron of a cop thought this lamebrain idea up? Exactly how does this deter crime?
One, who need to get his arrest numbers up.
I’ve seen episodes of Cops on TV where they conduct “sting” operations using decoy “drunks”.
if it was down in the subway than the cop must have been a transit cop
Somewhere out there must be an underemployed lawyer or unemployed citizen that could use some entertainment. We need a counter-sting. A well placed video camera, microphone, and several printed copies of the law/statute/legal precedent involved should do the job.
The NY city/transit police know that someone finding lost merchandise has 10 days to return it. This is simply an attempt to circumvent just cause. It’s time somebody called them on it, and made them pay dearly enough that they stop.
There must be somebody out there that needs some recognition (and a nice settlement).
This was a crime stats bust, pure and simple. Just to get the arrest numbers up. I say this as a retired cop.
"Now they [the wallets] 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."
Geez, why don't they use a little imagination and stick some kiddie porn in with the Amex cards, so they can get a twofer?
Everything. There isn’t anything right with them.
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