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Source: Agencies |
January 16, 2009, Friday
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POLICE in New Zealand nabbed a burglar after posting security camera footage of him trying to crack a bar's safe on the Internet networking site Facebook.
Police said it was New Zealand's first Facebook arrest and said they would use the site again to fight crime, as law enforcement officials and lawyers increasingly turn to online networks for purposes other than their original ones to provide social interaction.
"Facebook was very, very handy, and it's a good little tool," Senior Sergeant John Fookes of the Queenstown police told The Associated Press yesterday.
The burglar, wearing a face-covering balaclava and carrying a bag of tools, broke into a tiny storage room inside the Franklin Tavern in the tourist town of Queenstown early Monday and tried to cut into a safe containing NZ20,000 (US$12,000) in takings from gambling machines.
After nearly an hour in the cramped space, the burglar removed his balaclava and gloves and looked around - red-faced from fruitless toil. As he left, the video shows the man suddenly spotting the lens of the security camera that was recording his every move.
"He looks around and sees it and there's just a shocked look of 'gutted,'" said tavern assistant manager Mel Kelly. "His face definitely drops."
Officers posted the footage on the Queenstown police Facebook page and identification was "very, very quick; overnight, we had a number of responses" from the public, Fookes said. The man was charged with two counts of burglary.
A court in Australia last month approved a mortgage lender's application to use Facebook to serve legal documents on a couple who had defaulted on their payments. The previous month, a restaurateur in the Australian city of Melbourne used Facebook to track down a group who racked up a large bill then fled without paying.
Police said it was New Zealand's first Facebook arrest and said they would use the site again to fight crime, as law enforcement officials and lawyers increasingly turn to online networks for purposes other than their original ones to provide social interaction.
"Facebook was very, very handy, and it's a good little tool," Senior Sergeant John Fookes of the Queenstown police told The Associated Press yesterday.
The burglar, wearing a face-covering balaclava and carrying a bag of tools, broke into a tiny storage room inside the Franklin Tavern in the tourist town of Queenstown early Monday and tried to cut into a safe containing NZ20,000 (US$12,000) in takings from gambling machines.
After nearly an hour in the cramped space, the burglar removed his balaclava and gloves and looked around - red-faced from fruitless toil. As he left, the video shows the man suddenly spotting the lens of the security camera that was recording his every move.
"He looks around and sees it and there's just a shocked look of 'gutted,'" said tavern assistant manager Mel Kelly. "His face definitely drops."
Officers posted the footage on the Queenstown police Facebook page and identification was "very, very quick; overnight, we had a number of responses" from the public, Fookes said. The man was charged with two counts of burglary.
A court in Australia last month approved a mortgage lender's application to use Facebook to serve legal documents on a couple who had defaulted on their payments. The previous month, a restaurateur in the Australian city of Melbourne used Facebook to track down a group who racked up a large bill then fled without paying.
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