Stolen laptop nets selfies
A YOUNG woman has become the unwitting face of crime in an aggressive move by police to tackle petty theft.
Four provocative images of the woman, possibly a teenager, have been posted by Auckland police on its Facebook page, triggering a social media hunt to identify her.
The woman was caught unawares posing for a photo using a laptop’s camera – doing a ‘‘selfie’’.
But the laptop was stolen from a parked car in the Auckland suburb of Panmure in June and was set up with a system to send photos back to its owner. The owner passed them on to police, who posted them online asking: ‘‘Who is this young girl?’’ The post generated 135 ‘‘likes’’, 120 ‘‘shares’’ and 76 comments, with some hailing the move by police and others questioning the ethics. ‘‘She is a young girl. She may not necessarily have been the one to steal the laptop,’’ said one poster.
‘‘The police could have cropped the image to only show what was necessary to identify her. No need to show the provocative sexualised poses,’’ Ray Scrivener said.
But there were plenty of people who supported the image being posted.
‘‘The police are doing their job,’’ Lee Ripia responded. ‘‘If it hadn’t been stolen in the first place these selfies wouldn’t be on here.’’
The case is one of a rising number where cameras or GPS technology in laptops, tablets and phones are being used to track and identify thieves.
Earlier this year a family had property returned after using a web application to track an iPhone stolen from their home. The tracker led police to two men and a car filled with the stolen goods. But it does not always work. A Christchurch family used a GPS iPhone application to track a thief who took their phone.
Police were called but said they could not retrieve the phone as they did not have a search warrant allowing them to enter the house.