Home security cams on alert
Rory Moss had surveillance cameras set up at his Auckland home for less than a week before he caught youths stealing couriered packages off his doorstep.
Within 10 minutes of posting the footage of the theft on social media, the North Shore resident said he had five personal messages from locals identifying likely culprits. ‘‘The response was pretty quick, quicker than police,’’ Moss said.
Like Moss, a growing number of Kiwis are capturing crime on their personal recording devices, at home and on the road, and sharing the footage online.
With a note of caution, police said they supported the recording of incidents and sharing of the footage in order to solve a crime.
In some instances, they even encouraged it.
Moss reported the September incident to police and then shared a video clip on the Beach Haven and Birkdale Community Facebook page.
Instantly, people responded with similar experiences.
‘‘I posted on social media because there was more likelihood of the kids getting caught,’’ Moss said. ‘‘It is quite an active Facebook group.’’
In response to his post, Moss said there were lots of descriptions of the same three young people allegedly committing similar offences on other properties; however, he was the only one with high-definition security cameras to record evidence. He wished more people had a similar set-up.
‘‘Even if it is not catching someone in the act, it serves as a preventative tool.’’
Moss said the cameras he used cost about $190 for four, online, and were easy to install, but he cautioned people check the country of origin before purchasing, as there was a risk some cameras could be hacked into. Moss had his cameras set up to notify him every time someone entered or exited his property between 8am and 5pm.
He was careful where he positioned the cameras, in case they were hacked.
‘‘I make sure it is only filming outside, and wouldn’t use it over the driveway in case people saw you entering and exiting your property at the same time every day and I would only post up stuff you would want seen.’’
Recorded footage could then be easily sent to police via email and shared on social media platforms like any other video, Moss said. Since setting up the cameras, Moss had seen neighbours chasing lost dogs off his property and men in hi-vis looking in his windows.
He called the police to report the ‘‘guys looking really sus’’ and recommended others with cameras did the same if they spotted something concerning.
‘‘Cops generally appreciate a good description, ethnicity, time of entry, all in high-definition,’’ Moss said.
In 2017, almost 52,000 residential burglaries were reported to the police.
Detective Inspector Craig Scott from the National Criminal Investigations Group said he believed the ease of posting footage obtained from home-based security cameras or dashcams or Gopros online, rather than turning up to a police counter and waiting to log an incident, was why people chose to take that route.
‘‘That is the age we live in, the medium is there now to do it,’’ Scott said.
Most major police investigations, across a wide range of crimes, now had a security camera or digital-imaging component, Scott said.