Nobody home but the video camera?

[mbarker]

The news here in Japan had what I thought was a funny story. Apparently there's a group of teens who are being arrested for breaking and entering. There are at least five involved, and they were actually caught because of their modus operandi. Apparently one of the gang would ring the doorbell of a house, and if there was no answer, would then signal one of the others who would climb up and in through a back window.

The problem with this system is that several of the doorbells that they rang are the kind with built-in video cameras. The systems in these houses collected pictures which were easily connected with the burglaries. So whenever the crooks broke in, they left their pictures behind. Apparently the police had little trouble finding them with the helpful video snapshots.

Maybe they should ask the manufacturers for a kickback? It certainly seems to me like great advertising for having such video equipped doorbells.

Comments

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

There have been a series of break ins in my mother's neighborhood which seem to take place every few years. The first one I remember was a kid who got in through bathroom windows (which seem to be popular for leaving open and unlocked)....he was caught when he landed rather too hard on the toilet, broke through and got stuck. The latest one was caught because the guy broke into a house where the owner was napping...the owner was not a fragile old lady but a beefy ex-marine who took after the intruder, and got the license plate number of the car he took off in. Last I heard, two of the three members of the gang were caught...mainly because they decided to park a couple of blocks away from the break in and they decided to stay in the car instead of coming up with a better plan (the third member of their little club apparently decided exiting was a better idea). I can only hope for everyone concerned, would be criminals continue to be stupid.