The Montgomery County Council is looking to expand the county’s “bait car” program in reaction to an increasingly large number of thefts from cars in recent months, joining other jurisdictions in fighting the crime spree.

Stereos have long been a target of car thieves, but the more recent addition of Global Positioning System devices to many vehicles, combined with their high street value, has led more thieves to crack into vehicles. A GPS device can sell for hundreds of dollars on the street.

In the first quarter of this year, Montgomery County police reported an 18 percent jump in larcenies over the same period in 2007, much of which, police said, was due to a steady rise in thefts from cars. The first quarter continued on a trend set in 2007 when thefts from autos jumped nearly 13 percent.

Prince George’s County reported a 19 percent jump in car break-ins in 2007, and the District of Columbia’s Second and Third districts saw a 60 percent jump in February from the year before.

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With all that in mind, Montgomery County council members will review their program of bait cars Monday, with the idea of expanding it beyond the two cars in service that are meant to attract thieves and then trap them once they’ve made a move to either steal the car or steal from the car.

“I’m interested to learn about how it works in places that have really put forward a major program,” Council Vice President Phil Andrews said. “My bottom line is it is worth trying something different since we’re stuck with a significant number of auto thefts and we’re not making progress in reducing that over the last two to three years?”

Similar programs in other areas have had their ups and downs.

In February, D.C. police nabbed a suspect who was on probation for a homicide, authorities said. In March, they caught a thief in the 1000 block of Third Street NE who they believe was responsible for numerous break-ins in Capitol Hill.

But Dallas police recently suspended their program for several weeks after a bait car was involved in a crash that resulted in the death of a driver in another car.

Examiner staff writers Kathleen Miller and Scott McCabe contributed to this report.

fklopott@dcexaminer.com