Louisiana Beefing Up Bait Car Program To Fight Auto Theft ...

by CustomerService@sbmedia.com (NU ONLINE NEWS SERVICE)

Authorities in Louisiana have teamed up with insurance interests for a major bait car program to combat vehicle theft in the state, it was announced yesterday.

State Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon held a press conference in New Orleans yesterday to publicize the technology being put in place.

He said two programs within the Department of Insurance’s Louisiana Automobile Theft and Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority (LATIFPA) are aimed at reducing vehicle theft and insurance fraud in Orleans Parish.

Upon activation of the system, law enforcement can stop the bait car, lock suspects in a vehicle they are attempting to make off with and make arrests.

Commissioner Donelon said the target goal of the VIPER program is to have multiple bait vehicles in every major city in Louisiana where there are incidences of increased vehicle theft.

“New Orleans received its first bait car in September so it’s only been active for about a month,” Mr. Donelon related.

LATIFPA has placed two bait vehicles in Baton Rouge, one in Shreveport and one in Lake Charles and these four bait cars combined have resulted in 75 activations and 99 arrests, the Louisiana Insurance Department said in a statement.

So far there have been no activations or arrests associated with the new bait vehicle in the city of New Orleans,

Commissioner Donelon also announced that the LATIFPA board of directors had recently approved the award of a second License Plate Reader to New Orleans.

The LPR program is funded by LATIFPA and implemented in conjunction with the NICB.

LPR systems are designed to capture pictures of thousands of license plates from moving or stationary vehicles, process the images and send the images to a centralized database, and within seconds determine if the vehicle matching the license plate has been reported stolen.

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