So apparently, the New York Police Department is bored. Cops assigned to the transit beat, you see, have been planting bags in the subway and then, uh, leaving them there until some unsuspecting subway rider takes them. At that point, the cops swoop in.
Nope, no entrapment there. Just walk away.
As you could imagine, the editorial pages of The Times were none too thrilled about this practice. While a Brooklyn judge, the Grey Lady notes, ruled that the police “do not need to manipulate a situation where temptation may overcome even people who would normally never think of committing a crime,” The Times’ complaint went beyond entrapment.
There is also the question of whether the sting does actual harm. In an era of terrorism, where the police have to rely on the help of average people to notice anything suspicious — including apparently abandoned bags — the last thing New York needs are cynical operations that encourage mistrust between the police and subway riders.
And of course, there is the effect on neighborliness. It is remarkable how many people in this city are willing to track down the owners of lost cellphones, wallets or bags. Arresting good Samaritans is bad enough, but encouraging them not to help in the future through this kind of overly aggressive policing is a downright shame. The best thing to do with this misbegotten program would be to end it.
Well, that’s the understatement of the year. The Times was just saving the snark for me.
By using these questionable methods, the police are clearly putting their “See something, say something” program at risk. If seeing something, saying something and doing something result in a ticket because you took an unattended bag, most straphangers will just become typical New Yorkers. “It’s not my problem” will become the familiar refrain. Gone will be the days of phoning in suspicious packages. And we’ll all just go back to our self-centered ways.
You can blame the NYPD and their Operation Lucky Bag. That is one bad idea gone horribly wrong.
Every day, thousands of straphangers are violating New York City Transit’s Rules of Conduct. I’ve done it; I’m sure you, dear reader, have done it too. Sometimes, you just have to get away from that un-air conditioned car with the stinky homeless guy in it. But by moving from one subway car to another, we are in clear violation of 
