Good Samaritan

Ran across this article about NYC's police Subway Sting. The police are leaving wallets with money and credit cards in them to try to catch people that are likely to steal them. How do you decide if the person that picked it up is actually trying to steal it though? Sounds like the police are trying to trap people. You know that it will make people think twice before they do a good deed and try to return property that they assume is stolen.

It makes me think of when I lost my drivers lisence in Japan. Some one picked it up and turned it into the police station. I went to ask about it and sue enough they had it for me and they told me I needed to call the person that found it and thank them. It was a very unique experience. Japanese people are usually very honest about things like this. I don't know how many times I've asked students if they found money what would they do and the imediate response is that they would take it to the police station. Even if it was as trivial as ￥1,000 (about $10). Wouldn't it be nice to get back to those kind of morals in the states.