ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO. -- Your next pizza order could arrive at the door in the hands of an undercover police officer.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch on Thursday announced an unusual plan to have undercover cops deliver pizzas to parts of St. Louis County to deter armed robberies.
"If it's a legitimate pizza order, they're not going to know it's a police officer," Fitch said. "If a person has a sinister motive and they decide to rob one of our officers, it's not going to be pretty."
The strategy comes after Imo's driver Brian W. Johnson was fatally shot Monday night while taking three pizzas to a home in Dellwood. Johnson, 39, was found dead in his car after being robbed of the pizzas and a cellphone.
Prosecutors have charged Earon Rivers, 17, in the killing. Police said they found him in a house with the empty pizza boxes and murder weapon. They also arrested three other teens and are pursuing charges against them.
Johnson was the second Imo's pizza delivery driver slain in St. Louis County in six months. Imo's driver Daniil Maksimenko, 22, was shot May 20 while delivering a pizza in Hillsdale, about five miles south of where Johnson was killed.
Fitch said he has never tried such a crime prevention idea before. Officers who typically work undercover drug cases will be assigned to pizza delivery, as needed, starting as early as Friday in areas where similar robberies have occurred. He said police are working with Imo's and talking with other pizzerias that make deliveries in central and north St. Louis County and Florissant.
Police also will be working with pizza shops to help them identify orders that seem suspicious.
The officers who will deliver pizzas have experience with the dangers of making undercover drug buys, Fitch said.
"They usually have a good inkling when they think something is going to go bad," he said. "It absolutely will be putting officers in harm's way, but that's what they do every day."
Fitch said his plan has no end date; he will evaluate its effectiveness later.
All tips earned by officers will be turned over to drivers whose place police took, Fitch said.
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
