O. O’Lear, 86; LAPD Pickpocket Nemesis

Oscar O’Lear, a burly former Los Angeles police detective feared by shoplifters and pickpockets for half a century and recognized nationally as a man who could teach law enforcement how to deal with sticky-fingered suspects, has died. He was 86.

O’Lear, who made at least 2,000 arrests during 28 years with the LAPD, died April 20 in Reseda of natural causes, said his daughter, Colleen.

Born in Pueblo, Colo., O’Lear was a high school dropout who served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He signed on with the Police Department on Jan. 5, 1948, to make use of what he described as an in-born “grift sense.”

With what colleagues called his “camera eyes” -- a laser focus that could dissect crowds, coupled with an uncanny memory for faces -- he identified, arrested and tracked shoplifters and pickpockets, otherwise known as dips, spears, cannons, stalls, fingersmiths, claws or grifters.

O’Lear helped obtain case law that permits conviction of a pickpocket even when the victim cannot be located to testify -- a change that led to a sharp reduction of the crime in Los Angeles even as it rose elsewhere.

Rising to detective sergeant investigator, O’Lear would arrest the same pickpocket over and over until the person went straight or left town.

O’Lear retired from the force in 1976 over what he claimed was a double standard of law enforcement: allowing high-ranking city officials to escape prosecution while typists were arrested, tried and convicted for the same mishandling of public funds. Because of his agitation, superiors declined to throw him a retirement dinner.

But an old friend of sorts showed up to take O’Lear out for coffee -- one of his frequent arrestees known as “Mittens” because O’Lear hauled him to court so frequently that a judge ordered him to wear mittens to calm his wallet-lifting fingers.

“I don’t hate those guys,” O’Lear once told The Times. “I like some of them. I just despise what they do.”

Unable to retire from what he did so well, O’Lear spent decades teaching law enforcement agencies and private security companies how to spot pickpockets. He consulted for World Series and Olympic Games host cities and worked for such crowd magnets as Dodger and Anaheim stadiums, Hollywood Park, Universal Studios and Los Angeles International Airport.

O’Lear, practicing what he preached to those he trained, knew how to lose himself in the multitude. Times columnist Al Martinez, who wrote frequently about the cop, described him as “nondescript,” slouching through crowds with a Walter Matthau scowl, wearing scuffed shoes and a rumpled Columbo-type trench coat.

The low-key officer might be identified, however, when he went to the parking lot to go home. For decades, he drove an old VW Beetle with the license plate WIZBULL, meaning a pickpocket cop.

O’Lear is survived by his wife of 44 years, Gloria; their four daughters, Terri, Kerri, Colleen and Linda; a son and daughter from a previous marriage, Danny and Patty; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

The family, which is planning a memorial observance at a later date, asked that any donations be made to Assisted Home Hospice, 16909 Parthenia St., Suite 203, North Hills, CA 91343.