In Surrey, British Columbia, the Integrated Municipal Provincal Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) consists of twenty-two specialized police auto theft investigators from seven police forces in the Greater Vancouver Area. The team was created to develop innovative strategies to reduce car crine in British Columbia. They’re currently working on four major initiatives: the Bait Car program, Automated Licence Plate Recognition, the stolen vehicle Enforcement Team and Stolen Vehicle Identification.

Of these, perhaps the most dramatic is the Bait Car. A bait car is a vehicle owned by the police and is intended to be stolen. (While they started with cars, they’ve since expanded to motorcycles, ATV’s, snowmobiles, and watercraft.) After a bait car is stolen, the location, speed, and direction of travel of the vehicle is monitored by police dispatchers at EComm through GPS tracking. Everything that takes place inside the bait car is caught on audio and video. The dispatcher will coordinate a police response and once officers are in position behind the bait car, the engine will be disabled at the click of a mouse button which allows for the quick arrest of the car thieves.

They have posted several videos on their web site, including some very disturbing images of thieves operating under the influence of crystal meth. Every video posted will make you glad that programs like this are underway.

[See Bait Car Videos]

Lily told me the other morning that she wanted to be a doctor when she grows up. I said, “That’s great, Lily! You’ll be a great doctor!”

Jack said, “Yeah! And I’m gonna be a pirate!”

Last night, in our continuing efforts to get Jack potty-trained, Char sat him down just before bed to go potty. A few moments later he said, “Mom, I just did the water thing!” Recognizing this as the milestone that it is, we all congratulated him. Lily gave him a high-five. I picked him up and hugged him and we had this conversation:

Me: “Good job, Jack! That was awesome!”
Jack: “I’m a big boy now!”
Me: “Yes, that’s great! Pretty soon you’ll be wearing underwear all the time.”
Jack: “Yeah, and then I can do the water thing and I won’t need my pull-ups and we can put them in a garage sale!”
Me: “Uh… well, yep… I guess we can sell your pull-ups in a garage sale.”
Jack: “Yeah, ’cause I’m a big boy now.”

For the record, I have no idea why he thinks his pull-ups are going in a garage sale, but it’s perfectly fine with me.

I finished reading “Freakonomics” a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to mention it. The book is a fascinating, somewhat rambling, look at some odd questions that affect us all but probably never occurred to you. Questions like:

• Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
• What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
• Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
• How much do parents really matter?

And perhaps the one that will cause the biggest stir:

• What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

I won’t spoil it for you; it’s definitely worth reading the answers as the authors have presented them, but be prepared for some controversial answers to questions you hadn’t thought to ask.

And in the meantime, spend a little time on the authors’ blog, which explores some of these ideas and other current thoughts. It’s well worth your time.

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were interviewing Michael Eric Dyson about the comments that Bill Cosby made last year at the celebration of 50 Years of Brown v. Board of Education. Dyson is pretty ticked off about what Cosby said, and I had seen it referred to in various places as “Cosby’s controversial remarks”. I decided it was time to read them for myself.

After I read them, I thought you might be interested, too.

[Read the transcript of Cosby’s remarks]
[Listen to excerpts of Cosby’s remarks]