Detroit and Wayne State police team up to bait criminals

By JAMES DAVID DICKSON
Detroit News
AP Member Exchange
DETROIT — Through partnership with Wayne State police, DTE baits criminals.
Ever see a bike left unattended at Campus Martius? Ever see a car neglected, unlocked, looking as if it has been abandoned? That’s what they want you to think.
“They” being DTE — which provides bait cars and bikes and monitors them through surveillance cameras in downtown and Midtown — and Wayne State University Police Department which makes arrests.
Michael Lynch, head of security for DTE Energy, approached Wayne State University Police Chief Anthony Holt with the idea: DTE would set bait cars and bait bikes not only in Midtown but downtown as well. DTE would monitor them and reach out to Wayne State police, who would make an arrest.
“Chief Holt has guaranteed a 90-second response time,” Lynch said.
The Detroit News reports that some 60 convictions have resulted in just a three-year span.
Last year on April 1, a suspect was caught on surveillance tape loading a DTE bait bike into a getaway truck. The truck drives off, only to be caught and the suspects arrested by Wayne State police.
As police investigated the incident, they learned that the suspects “were also responsible for the theft of the university’s musical instruments,” according to a DTE security narrative of the incident. The instruments, and “several other” bikes that had been stolen and sold to pawn shops, were recovered.