By Abigail R. Ortiz
Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque Police Department’s new method of trying to catch larceny offenders by planting backpacks filled with beer, a laptop and other items is catching heat from some defense attorneys.
However, police officials said Tuesday the program is temporarily on hold and will be reviewed before it is started up again.
Under the new Tac Plan, officers leave a backpack with items worth more than $2,500 at Gold and Fourth. If passersby take the backpack without reporting it to police, they are arrested and charged with felony counts of larceny.
That scenario sets up people who are not otherwise criminals, said Barry Porter, of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
The plan has resulted in at least five arrests since it was started within the past week.
The New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the state Public Defender Department plans a news conference today to outline their concerns about the plan.
APD spokeswoman Nadine Hamby said the Tac Plan was created to reduce the incidence of stolen backpacks and purses in the Downtown area.
It was suspended Monday because the assistant district attorney who approved it no longer works for the office, Hamby said. Police will review the plan and submit it to another assistant DA for approval.
She cited one case in which a man who picked up the backpack walked by the uniformed officers without telling them he had found it, Hamby said. The officers waited more than an hour to see if he would call police. When he didn’t, they arrested him.
Porter said officers have set up the site near some of the city’s largest homeless shelters, so those caught may have mental illnesses, substance abuse problems or be strikingly poor. “It’s like throwing a wallet out in front of people,” he said.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal