Ruse of free money rounds up suspects wanted by Tampa police - Polidicks

[quote]TAMPA — More than 30 people with felony warrants walked one by one toward the office door — each expecting to receive a stimulus check once in the "secure area." Instead, they were greeted by two officers with handcuffs on Thursday and Friday in an operation Tampa police called April Fools. "Greed is king," said Maj. John Newman of Tampa police's District II. For the price of copy paper and 44-cent stamps, Tampa police were able to lure people they had been searching for to a storefront at 1727 E. Fowler Ave. to be arrested and taken to jail. Two weeks ago, about 1,300 people with felony warrants from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota counties received a letter from the "West Central Florida Stimulus Coalition" telling them they were eligible to receive $653.23 if they called and made an appointment, and then came to pick up the check on Thursday or Friday. Newman said 62 people called and scheduled appointments, and 34 had been arrested by early Friday afternoon. Most of the warrants of the arrested were for violation of probation and financial crimes, such as grand theft. But the sting did net one robbery suspect and a person suspected of escaping a previous arrest. "These cases had been worked," Newman said. "Warrants officers had spent hours going to last-known addresses and hang outs looking for these people." But in the end, the allure of free money was all it took to get them to turn themselves in, he said. Some brought in relatives who got upset once they found out their loved on wasn't coming back out with a big, fat check. "We had one woman who we arrested ask if she was still going to get her stimulus money," Newman said. "It became very difficult for us to hold a straight face sometimes." Newman said the storefront was donated by the shopping plaza owner. Furniture used to make the office look like the real thing came straight from Tampa Police Department offices. "Some of my detectives didn't have desks this week," Newman laughed. The idea came from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, which ran a similar sting called Operation Show Me the Money in August 2009. Newman said they talked to the department about what worked and figured out how to streamline the process. "They sent out their letters a month in advance and they said by the last two days the arrests were waning because of the time lapse," Newman said. Tampa police call the operation success — even though it netted only a small percentage of those wanted. "It's less people we have to continue to search for," Newman said.[/quote] I live near Tampa and thought this was funny so I figured I'd post it. [B]Source:[/B] [url]http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/ruse-of-free-money-rounds-up-suspects-wanted-by-tampa-police/1086331[/url] [B]Video:[/B] [url]http://www.tampabay.com/video/?bcpid=28597115001&bctid=77091797001[/url]

Police should do stuff like this more often.

Nothing ever happens here in Winter Haven. :(

I've seen them do this before, genius plan.

[QUOTE=Kyle902;21257103]Police should do stuff like this more often.[/QUOTE] They do it all the time.

I guess you could say they're complete fucking idiots.

Wait, wait, wait. If they knew where they lived in order to send them the letter. Why the fuck didn't they just arrest them? Was committing fraud on behalf of the police force REALLY necessary?

[QUOTE=Lankist;21257862]Wait, wait, wait. If they knew where they lived in order to send them the letter. Why the fuck didn't they just arrest them? Was committing fraud on behalf of the police force REALLY necessary?[/QUOTE] [B]1,300[/B] people. Is this legal though? They do it a lot although I'm not saying that makes it legal.

[QUOTE=JDK721;21258154][B]1,300[/B] people. Is this legal though? They do it a lot although I'm not saying that makes it legal.[/QUOTE] Police are allowed to lie

[QUOTE=TheChantzGuy;21258196]Police are allowed to lie[/QUOTE] He said fraud. There's a difference between fraud and lying.

[img]http://cdn.solidfiles.net/i/FGqv.jpg[/img] they only caught the brightest of the criminal masterminds (this is in the video)

Tampa isn't too far from here. Go Floridians.

[QUOTE=TheChantzGuy;21258196]Police are allowed to lie[/QUOTE] No they aren't. And falsifying official government documentation seems awfully shady.

Rule 1 of Capitalism: Money is never free.

I fucking love my home-town, haha. Go Tampa Police.