The Stakeout Squad was a police unit created in 1968 to fight a sudden increase in armed robberies and murders in New York.
Store owners who had been repeatedly robbed could request the team to "stakeout" their business. Police would interview the business and if it seemed appropriate, would send 2-3 officers to hide inside (or pretend to be customers).
Then they would simply wait for someone to come in and rob it.
Robbers were told
"Police! Don't move! Drop your weapon!" If they tried to harm anyone they would be shot.
From 1968 to 1973 there were:
24 robbers killed
19 robbers wounded
53 arrested
No police were harmed.
However, politicians didn't like the body count, and in addition there were accusations of discrimination because the robbers they arrested or shot happened to be predominantly African American.
Some police pointed out that discrimination was impossible because they were not out looking for robbers, the robbers were coming to them.
Nevertheless the unit was disbanded in 1973.
With the economy the way it is, do you think it's time for these police tactics to make a return?
