FIND A PURSE, GO TO JAIL

"I vaguely remember when "undercover" cops were interested in breaking up drug rings"

So, here's the scenario. You see a purse sitting somewhere, apparently abandoned. What do you do when you find it? If you said "I take it and try to find the owner" or "woohoo I hit the jackpot!" Then you're going to jail in New York City.

In fact, all three items had been planted by police officers in plainclothes during the previous six weeks. And the three people who picked them up were arrested, and now face indictment on charges that could land them in state prison.

Nine months ago, a similar police decoy program called Operation Lucky Bag was effectively shut down by prosecutors and judges who were concerned that it was sweeping up the civic-minded alongside those bent on larceny. Shopping bags, backpacks and purses were left around the subway system, then stealthily watched by undercover officers. They arrested anyone who took the items and walked past a police officer in uniform without reporting the discovery.

This year's sting is even more spicy, just to make sure the punishments are worse.

Unlike the initial program, in which the props were worth at most a few hundred dollars, the bags are now salted with real American Express cards, issued under pseudonyms to the Police Department.

Because the theft of a credit card is grand larceny, a Class E felony, those convicted could face sentences of up to four years. The charges in the first round of Operation Lucky Bag were nearly all petty larceny, a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

This kind of thing has always bothered me: you're creating a crime then busting people? They've netted about three hundred people with this all important sting operation so far. At Overlaywered, Walter Olsen pointed this story out, and commenters responded:

Interesting. Does New York make it a crime not to turn in a lost wallet? No finders keepers? I applaud the general desire for a more honest public, but I'd chalk this up to Sam Francis' "Anarcho-Tyranny". Cops know it'll be easy to bust this crime. Meanwhile, a gang of kids jumping a straphanger is a low priority. I remember that when I lived in New York, the cops loved to hand out tickets to dog owners in the park -- always harmless yuppie-types -- but would do nothing about million-decibel rap music with obscene lyrics, gang-family picnics that left chicken bones galore, etc. It was easy to see why. Go after the yuppies, and you have an easy, pliant target. Go after the gang-banger-types, and you get shot, stabbed or hit with a civil rights complaint. Too many police look for the path of least resistance.
-by Anonymous attorney


If you turned in the purse to a cop here in Jackson, Mississippi, it would disappear. Really! This happened in the last year when a citizen turned in $5,000 he found. It disappeared from the precinct and no one has been arrested in the theft. So, if I were in NYC and found a wallet or purse containing id., I would try to track the owner down myself (and go to jail).
-by Jane


I find it interesting that they continue to do this even though a judge has told them that the law gives citizens something like 5 days to turn in found property. Couple that with the fact they put in credit cards to up the ante and I think you get a pretty good picture of the NYPD's mindset. I wouldn't live there on a bet.
-by Dave_D


Knowing this about NYC, when I am there next week, I will not pick up and wallet I see. But this is a problem. I am honest and return things to people. But why chance it? I am deterred from doing the right thing.

This policy just makes it more likely that the wrong people will pick up wallets and purses.

Then again, if they arrested me, I'd sue them under a variety of theories. So maybe I'll go wallet hunting after all...
-by mike

Now, it's a lame copout to whine that cops ought to be going after "real criminals" rather than busting you for speeding or littering, it's all illegal. The problem with this particular setup is that the police are spending a lot of time and money on it to bust people for what has to be one of the most insignificant crimes in the state, even if it is a crime. What do you do with lost items you find? Look for the lost and found at the mall perhaps? Or find the nearest cop and give them the purse?

Why would you give lost stuff to a cop anyway, don't they have better things to do than hold on to lost purses? That would absolutely not be even on the list of ideas I had. To be honest, this looks a lot less like a real criminal sting and a lot more like "we need more money from fines" sweeping. I feel for the cops who have to do this work, it's the kind of police work I'd despise. Imagine being a cop who has strangers handing them a purse. I found this on a bench, officer and I didn't want to be thrown in jail for trying to find the owner.

Meanwhile in Sussex in the UK, the cops tell people to put the lost stuff back where they found it, rather than taking the item. Why? It's a cost-cutting scheme, less paperwork, less hassle. And in Europe, an advertising agency has taken to using fake wallets left in public places for advertising. It's amazing what Google images will pull up when you need art for a story.

Lost and Found, New York City, Law