bait items to catch criminals

Man steals police bait despite obvious police presence

Dec 17, 2019 | 2:37 PM

PRINCE GEORGE– RCMP continue to catch criminals with bait property, with six arrests made last week.

on Tuesday, Dec.10th a bait bike was placed in the downtown core of Prince George and in just over an hour, three people were arrested for theft under $5,000. All three male residents of Prince George will appear in court on March 4, 2020.

On Friday, December 13, bait property was placed inside a parked vehicle in downtown Prince George. Just after 10 p.m, two men approached the vehicle and looked inside, one man proceeded to use a hammer to break a passenger side window of the vehicle, both men grabbed items from the vehicle and fled on foot.

RCMP officers arrested 30-year-old Justin Dereck Murphy and 29-year-old Eugene William Jimmie not long after the incident. The stolen items were recovered and one officer suffered a minor injury as a result of a struggle with a suspect.

While officers were arresting the two men, another man walked past the multiple police vehicles involved in the arrests and continued towards the parked vehicle with the bait items inside.

Despite the obvious police presence in the area, the 37-year-old man stole an item from the vehicle before fleeing on foot, only to be arrested a short distance later.

Both Murphy and Jimmie have been remanded in custody, both suspects have been scheduled court dates.

The 37-year-old man was released by a justice and will appear in court in January.

“Our bait programs continue to lead to arrests and charges of those people in our community that choose to steal from others” says S/Sgt. Kent MacNeill, acting Operations Officer for the Prince George RCMP. “We often have people in handcuffs within minutes of deploying bait property. Having those people off the street will almost certainly prevent others from being victims.”

Bait property will continue to be deployed throughout the community by the Prince George RCMP.