The second installment of Reason TV’s new series, “Don’t Cops Have Better Things to Do?”, sets its sights on San Francisco and an elaborate sting operation.  Are they busting rapists?  Murderers? Drunk drivers?  Not exactly.  While hundreds of unsolved murders and rapes wait for closure, the SFPD has decided to address iPhone theft by stinging those who buy them from street vendors:

If a shady character stops you on the streets of San Francisco and tries to sell you a stolen iPhone or iPad, he just might be a cop.

San Francisco Police Department officers are going undercover to peddle “stolen” Apple devices, and whoever takes the bait gets taken down (by five cops no less!). The Huffington Post‘s Gerry Smith reports that SFPD created a special task force three years ago to combat “Apple picking.” Similar task forces can be found in New York City and Washington, D.C.

“If they steal the phone but can’t sell it, there’s no market,” says San Francisco Police Capt. Joe Garrity. “We’re cutting the head off the snake.”

Capt. Joe might want to take it easy with the hyperbole, especially when Apple picking is a crime that he himself equates with purse snatching, and when San Francisco’s finest could be spending more time on more serious crimes.

Buying stolen merchandise, or even possessing it, is a crime … but is this really a good prioritization of police resources?  Five cops to bust a buyer, who will at best face a misdemeanor — and that’s only if a prosecutor can convince a judge of intent rather than stupidity.  It’s a way to harass people out of buying the phones in the first place, but wouldn’t it be smarter to sting the sellers, who might have some connection to the actual thieves?

Or, perhaps, try working on more serious crimes?

Around the time the SFPD was cooking up its iPhone task force, The San Francisco Examiner revealed that the department had more than 1,000 unsolved murders and about 900 unsolved rapes on its hands. A year later, San Francisco Attorney General George Gascon, who was police chief at the time of the revelation, told a reporter he had “forgot” about his department’s unfinished business.

Police departments have a tough job.  Why does the San Francisco Police Department want to make it even more tough?