From bribing congressmen, and paying smugglers to transport drugs, to putting a bicycle in a public place, and waiting for someone to steal it, law enforcement officers are not waiting for crimes to randomly happen.

In Cheektowaga, for example, police put new bicycles on street corners, driveways, in front of convenience stores, and other pubic places near the Buffalo border. Then wait to see if anyone steals it.

The operation has resulted in nabbing scores of would be thieves.

"We have found we are arresting people who have long, criminal records, not just neighborhood kids." said Lt Cheryl Rucinski, of the Cheektowaga police department. "These people were going to steal, then sell the bikes."

Cheektowaga police, however, although they got approval from the Erie County District Attorney’s office, have been coming under increasing scrutiny, and a share of controversy.

One 17 year old boy was arrested for an incident arising out of his warning others not to steal a decoy bike. His case goes to trial in August.

The News contacted local police chiefs to find out if Tonawanda police are employing similar methods.

Mark Winters, Chief of the city of Tonawanda police department, said they do not employ bike decoys, but do sometimes use "paid" informants to uncover activities of potential criminals.

Whether of not a police action is entrapment is not clearly defined by the courts. Well known civil rights attorney, and Tonawanda resident, David Jay, gave the News his definition of entrapment as "using a trick or artifice to try to get someone to do something he normally would not do. In other words, to induce a person otherwise not disposed to do so -- to commit a crime."

Chief Winters agrees. "The critical issue is to not cross the line. The police, or paid informants, cannot actually encourage someone to commit a crime," he said.

The issue has loomed large since the celebrated ABSCAM case in 1980 where a US senator and four congressmen were convicted of bribery and conspiracy after FBI agents, posing as representatives of an Arab Shiek, offered bribes in exchange for special favors. The FBI’s tactics raised questions about entrapment, and the conviction of Florida Rep Richard Kellly was overturned in 1982.

Still, there is no consensus on where to draw the line.

North Tonawanda Police Chief, Carl Stiles said his department isn’t using decoys, only because bike theft isn’t a serious problem in NT.

"I sympathize with the point of view that setting up a police bike, and waiting for someone to steal it, is entrapment, but I don’t agree." Chief Stiles said. "If you, as a police employee, say ‘Here is a nice bike, why don’t you grab it’ -- that is entrapment."

Around the country, many law enforcement officials have espoused that facilitating the apprehension and conviction of people likely to commit crimes is not entrapment, and decoys, and similar methods, not only apprehend dangerous criminals, but public awareness of them can be a deterrent to crime.

A recent FBI case, that had ties to the Tonawanda area, saw two Toronto men convicted of conspiracy, after FBI agents, posing as mobsters, persuaded them to smuggle cocaine into the US.

While secretly videotaping them, agents discussed with Bruno Malfara, 28, and Emilio C. Garibaldi, 34, what kind of crimes might be executed for profit. After several plans were discussed, the FBI hired the men to smuggle 100 pounds of cocaine into the US for $12,000 in compensation.

Garibaldi and Malfala face more than 15 years in federal prison.

Family members said the men would never have committed a crime if the FBI hadn’t set them up. But US Attorney William Hochul, Jr. told the News that, although the FBI proposed smuggling cocaine, the men had suggested hijacking a truck, and other violent crimes.

"They were passing themselves off as wise guys and said they has six ‘bad guys’ which we took to mean guys with prison records." said Mr. Hochul.

Mr. Hochul said the case had a larger focus, including the investigation of corrupt police officers in Cleveland, Ohio.

Town of Tonawanda police chief Samuel Palmiere, however, while not wishing to comment on the practice of other law enforcement departments, spoke out strongly against using bike decoys or other methods that border on entrapment.

"It is not something we are doing, and is not something we would do. I feel police should never encourage anyone to commit a crime in any way. We can’t put a $500 bill on a street corner and then wait to see who picks it up." he said.

Chief Palmiere said the Town does use informants.

"There are cases where we know a particular crime is being committed by someone in a certain neighborhood and we could set up an operation to try to get that person or persons to commit that crime again in a situation where we could arrest them." said Chief Palmiere. "This would be ok, because they are already committing the crime. We are just getting them to do it where we can arrest them for it."

Critics contend however that the question for law enforcement and the public is "when does it go too far?"

In Cheektowaga, 17 year old Corez Nelson knew that the shiny new bike lying out in plain view was a police decoy. He was telling other teenagers to stay away.

‘‘He was repeatedly warning people about the decoy bikes, even after our officers repeatedly asked him not to do it." said Lt Rucinski. "He then got nasty with the officers and that is when he was arrested."

Joe Dwiezsa, a Tonawanda resident, and a bicyclist, who has followed the Nelson case, counters. "Nelson may go to jail, at least, indirectly, for telling people not to steal?" Mr. Dwieza said.

Mr. Nelson, who might spend time in prison, may invoke a legal precedent. If police are setting up decoys to apprehend would-be thieves, does a citizen have the right to inform others, in direct violation of police orders to be silent?

Timothy is a 12 year old who had his new bike stolen last month in front of his Tonawanda residence. He was very upset at the time.

"You see when someone goes to the point to exert themselves to stealing a bike, where does it go next- stealing cars?" he said.

But Timothy said he does not support bike decoys, which he called a "set up"

"Why get people in trouble just for the hell of it," he said.