Winnipeg police are under attack for not using "bait cars" enough to catch car thieves.

Bait cars are vehicles that appear to be normal – models that are stolen often, parked in high-theft areas – but they are equipped with devices that allow police to track and disable them.

When a thief falls for the bait, the car begins recording audio and video evidence and transmits a signal to help police find it.

Conservative Justice Critic Kelvin Goertzen says the vehicles yielded only two arrests in all of 2004.

The problem, Goertzen says, is that there are only two of the cars being used, a number far too small, since more than 10,000 cars are stolen every year in this province.

"What I'd like the government to do is put real resources into the bait-car program. There needs to be, I would say, at least a dozen, probably more, bait cars out there on a very, very regular basis," he said. "Then the program has to be advertised, so the people know that it's out there."

Winnipeg police spokeswoman Shelly Glover said the statistics for 2004 aren't indicative of the overall success of the program.

"The bait car program is a successful program, when combined with other strategies. And as I've said, the bait car program is one cog in our wheel of the auto-theft strategy," said Glover. "We will show you in the next couple of weeks how our strategy has been very successful in the last few months in reducing auto theft."

Glover said 11 car thieves were actually apprehended using the bait car in 2004, but nine of them couldn't be charged because they were under 12 years old.

Manitoba has the highest rate of vehicle theft in the country, mostly due to the number of vehicles stolen in Winnipeg. Manitoba Public Insurance says 8,897 vehicles were stolen in Winnipeg in 2004, a rate of 1,932 per 100,000 people.