Last night I saw Jacked on A&E, which follows the Auto Theft Task Force in Newark, NJ. In the opening, they talked about how “every car stolen seems to end up in Newark,” hence the task force’s creation. They also mention that cars really aren’t stolen for value all that often, but more as short-term things to commit other crimes with.
The task force is nicknamed The Wolfpack because of how they operate. A team of a couple dozen officers will cruise the city at night in myriad unmarked trucks and SUVs, modified a bit for what they do, yet designed to blend in pretty well. They put two officers in each truck, one to drive and one to run license plates and act as a second set of eyes. When one of the trucks spots a stolen car, they’ll follow them (hoping for what they call an “undetected follow”), and the others will close in, often on parallel or intersecting streets, until they’ve got a bunch in the area, at which time they all close in and “do it now!,” boxing the stolen car in with half a dozen trucks, ensuring that the only way out is to try to ram through a reinforced SUV, and that the only way to run is to run past more than a dozen officers who’ve got you at gunpoint.
They point out that they’re very different from the mainstream police department. Despite what they admit are very intimidating tactics (getting boxed in by a half-dozen SUVs, and having a dozen officers brandishing guns), they’re primarily concerned with safety. On the show I saw, a couple people ran, and they let them go. Not only does it put civilians (and the officers) in unnecessary danger to try to follow at a high rate of speed, but they always make the same comment when dropping a chase: “We’ll find ’em soon enough.” (Sometimes an hour later.) They’re very selective about where they stop cars, making a point to swarm in only when there are no bystanders. And boxing cars in, plus the massive show of force, is something they say isn’t so much about intimidation for the sake of show, as it is to ensure that a fight won’t take place at all.
The show’s on again Thursday night, although I make no warranties about the A&E site, which seems to throw errors more often than not.