Calif. agents use award ruse to reel in fugitives ($200 and amnesty)

Calif. agents use award ruse to reel in fugitives



SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Dozens of California parole violators showed up to claim a very attractive offer: $200 and amnesty. And dozens of parole violators found themselves in handcuffs and, for most, headed back to prison.

In a corrections department variation on the old bait-and-switch, officials set up an elaborate sting aimed at some of the more than 14,000 California ex-convicts who broke off contact with their parole agents, are suspected of committing new crimes or of violating terms of their parole.

They used a website, an e-mail account, and appointed an agent to the fictitious post of "amnesty program director." They sent 2,700 letters to relatives of parolees-at-large advertising the reward and fake amnesty program.

It wasn't the first time law enforcement has relied on a ruse to collar offenders.

...

"Using the Web page and such is a new way to do it. We used to play on the greed, and now we're playing on the promise that they might be released from custody," said Tony Chaus, who runs the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Office of Correctional Safety.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_PAROLE_STING?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I have mixed feelings about this, depending on what the crime was.

Very high ROI% in terms of taxpayer dollars to violators caught.

Much safer than no-knock raids by SWAT teams and all the other paramilitary BS that seems to be "trendy" lately.