Videos released Wednesday demonstrating the foolhardiness of some modern-day car thieves helped mark the seventh anniversary of the Vancouver police department's bait-car program.

In one video, two young men break into a car and excitedly proclaim "we're gangsters" and "it's got an engine" before desperately fleeing the vehicle when they realize police are closing in. The vehicle they broke into was a bait car put on the street by Vancouver police.

In another video, a man carelessly sings along to music as he drives around the city in the bait car he's broken into, a ditty that's interrupted by expletives when he realizes he, too, has been duped.

B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed, a long-time member of the Vancouver force, told reporters the program has become the most successful of its kind in North America and has led to a 71 per cent drop in auto thefts in Vancouver.

'Auto theft is down ... way down'— B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed

"I was a member of this police department at the time and I remember the excitement surrounding the unleashing of this new weapon on auto crime — and what an effective weapon it has turned out to be," Heed said.

"Auto theft is down — way down. In the Lower Mainland, it has dropped 59 per cent. Province-wide, auto theft has decreased by 52 per cent."

It's a significant improvement for a province that once had the dubious distinction of being the car theft capital of North America. There were 1,700 car thefts for every 100,000 people in Surrey, B.C., in 2001. The bait car program was launched in 2002.

Nicolas Jimenez, director of road safety for the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia, said the program has made a real difference in the pocketbook for residents across the province.

Savings worth $40 million

"In the last five years, we've seen auto claim thefts decrease by $40 million," Jimenez said. "That has a very real and visible impact to people's wallets. It's why ICBC's been able to lower our optional insurance premiums in four of the last five years for a total of 17 per cent."

Not too long ago, Jimenez said, the Crown corporation was recovering 500 stolen vehicles every year. Because fewer vehicles are being stolen thanks to the bait car program, he said, that number is down to about 180.

Heed said B.C. now has the largest fleet of bait cars in North America, though the exact number of vehicles are on the streets has not been released.

Car thieves have come to know that bait cars are everywhere, he added, and police are instituting new measures to ramp up the program. The entire fleet is being upgraded with live audio and video feeds, and officers receive support from helicopters and police dog teams.

"For those who think they can outrun a helicopter, they can't. Those who think they can outrun a German shepherd, they shouldn't," Heed said.