WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — The Webster Groves Police Department recently began using a decoy program to fight an increase in vehicle thefts in the area.
At around 2 a.m. on Feb. 13, one of the decoy systems detected suspicious activity near Summit Avenue and Sunnyside Avenue.
A short time later, the department received calls from residents in the area that saw suspicious people through their home security cameras, according to a press release.
When officers arrived in the area, they saw several people get out of a car and run away. Four people were taken into custody. Police said the car they were in was reported stolen and officers also recovered a gun.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued felony charges on three of the suspects.
Willie Burrage Jr., 22, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, 17-year-old Terion Harrison was charged with stealing $750 or more and 25-year-old Heath Cowin was charged with tampering with a motor vehicle.
The decoy systems were placed in random locations throughout the city, according to the press release.
“All over the St. Louis Metropolitan area for the last couple months has been getting hit with a lot of vehicle break-ins,” said Captain Stephen Spear. “Not just specific to Webster, but different cities so we’ve done things like saturation patrol, where we are running more manpower overnight.”
Spear would not go into detail about what the decoys are or how they use them.
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