Episode 3 Thief Trackers

Bag snatches, robberies and street crime.

According to the latest police figures, more than 3,500 incidents

of theft are reported every day in the UK.

Please, help me, my mum is being murdered.

-Give me the key!

-WOMAN SCREAMS

He just thought someone was trying to kill me.

But what happens to our belongings when they are stolen?

Thief Trackers shows who takes them and where they go.

Hiding trackers inside items, like cameras, smartphones

and bicycles, to trace their every move.

The thieves think they have got away with it,

but we have got them under surveillance.

Using undercover footage, CCTV and tracking technology,

we'll get an insight into the criminal mind...

..and uncover the unseen journey

that our possessions take when they are stolen.

Today, the Thief Trackers are on the trail of a stolen bicycle...

..coming face-to-face with a gang of opportunist thieves.

Is that the bike? That's the bike, that's the bike!

Plus, London's most wanted shoplifter is tracked

by Scotland Yard's super-recognisers -

the cops who never forget a face...

I think he was definitely of the illusion

that he would never be caught.

One can only presume how many hundreds of crimes

he has gotten away with.

..and Midlands Police crack down

on a terrifying carjacking spree...

He actually physically grabbed hold of me and threw me out of the car

into the middle of the road. And then they just drove off.

..as mindless crooks are caught on camera.

With concerns about our health and the environment,

more and more of us have taken to two wheels.

An opportunity for an ever-increasing type of crime -

bike theft. Over 300,000 bikes were stolen in 2015.

Helping the Thief Trackers with our investigation

is our specialist crime advisor, Alex Stewart.

He was assigned to some of the toughest areas in London,

both on patrol, as an undercover officer, and his time with the force

in the Metropolitan Police.

From theft, to drugs, to violent crime,

he has seen what life is like on the streets.

You would think using a secure chain like this would deter thieves.

But you'd be wrong.

It can take as little as ten seconds to steal a bike.

They are easy to steal, they are quick to sell

and very hard to trace,

which is why bike theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes

in Britain.

We bought a bike worth £500 and fitted it with GPS trackers.

If it gets stolen, we can track the bike and the criminals,

using satellite tracking technology, just like your car's satnav.

Following their every move is the Thief Trackers' undercover team,

mounting a covert surveillance operation.

For their safety, you will not see them,

you will hear their voices.

Keep the camera on these guys.

The stakeout is set up on a side street

and the team have locked our bike securely to some railings,

using a heavy-duty bike lock, as any of us do.

The trackers are live. Time to watch and wait.

It is quiet during daylight hours,

but most theft happens under the cover of darkness.

They rip the bike from the railings

using a classic bike thieves' technique.

The Thief Trackers are hot on their heels, heading north.

But on two wheels, rather than four,

the crooks cut through back streets and alleys.

The gang who took the bike have been tracked

to this North London housing estate.

The Trackers' signal says it's here.

So, the team stake out the area,

waiting for the thieves to make their next move.

Later, the Thief Trackers hunt down our stolen bike...

All right, we are getting really close to where the tracker

thinks it is. One of these houses has the bike, definitely.

..closing in on the bike snatchers.

Are you pretty sure it's him?

I'd say I'm 95% sure.

The police are constantly looking for ways to help fight crime,

adopting new tactics to track down crooks.

CCTV has been around for a long time, but it's only recently

that its use has been fully exploited.

It has been my crusade for many years,

to get the police to take the CCTV...

To get it dealt with properly.

A voice in the wilderness for many years.

But his vision became a reality when, in 2011, a unique squad

was set up at New Scotland Yard, combining CCTV footage

with a specialised team of officers, who have an extraordinary ability

to remember faces. Known as super-recognisers,

the unit is run by Mick Neville.

Well, this department is concerned with catching criminals with images.

Generally, that is CCTV

but it could be some footage that someone has captured

on their mobile phone or a camera or any other sort of pictures.

The real catalyst for it all was the riots of 2011,

which made the police rethink how they deal with CCTV evidence

and realised that they had to professionalise it

and make it like a forensic discipline.

Our aim is to identify those suspects

and make sure they appear before the courts.

Two leading members of the team were hand-picked

for their special skills.

Super-recognisers are people who have an ability

to recall a face, essentially. Store that information in the mind.

'I have been a police officer for about 14 years now,'

and last year I came up to Scotland Yard

and identified that you could link crimes together.

Because I was putting in quite a lot of identifications,

I then got an e-mail from Scotland Yard, basically saying,

"We think you are a super-recogniser"

and sent me off for testing with the University of Greenwich.

So, that combination of getting those correct identifications

from CCTV of suspects who are wanted

put me on the world's first super-recogniser list.

We are the only people in the world who actually sit there

and look at imagery. So, just one dedicated team

to go and look at CCTV images of outstanding suspects.

We can link similar offences together on our database.

So, one, we can track the offending pattern and say,

"Look, how many cases have we got to put to this man?"

10, 20, 30, 40, 50 cases.

And then the court can sentence them appropriately.

But to link anyone criminal to a number of crimes,

the super-recognisers need specialised techniques

to identify suspects.

The kind of things I look for when I make an identification -

nose shape, jawline, sometimes, the ear lobes, shape of the ears.

In 2015, they proved their worth,

with one of their biggest cases.

We had a suspect who was a shoplifter,

but an unusual kind of shoplifter.

One of the officers in the unit

said, "Hang on a minute, I've seen this guy before."

They were not just focusing on his facial features.

It was also the kind of clothing he was wearing.

He was pretty well dressed. Collared shirt, V-neck jumper.

Quite distinctive, really.

Not your usual guy you would associate with those sort of things.

This suspect was stealing from high-end boutiques

and designer stores in Notting Hill,

Knightsbridge, Sloane Street -

very, very fashionable areas of London.

The goods that he was taking were pretty unique.

They were small, quite concealable,

but of a very, very high value.

He waits for one split second for somebody to turn their back

and, as he walks up to join them at the counter,

he picks up the bracelet and puts it in his pocket.

We had to draw an arrow of it and slow down the CCTV,

to show when the theft actually occurs.

The eagle-eyed detectives

began to link this one man elsewhere.

He could talk to staff very confidently.

Sometimes, he would give a little story about his wife

or his girlfriend being parked close by

and wanting to enquire about an item in another size.

All he needed was that small opportunity to do the theft.

He would not steal and then run out in a panic.

So, he did not really arouse suspicion until it was too late

and he had already left. Very audacious, but very skilled.

We did not know who he was, so we had snapped him in action

on these images and we got to about 10 or 15

and still did not know who he was. He became our number one target.

The team were determined to catch this prolific shoplifter,

trawling through more and more CCTV footage.

We linked the suspect to 43 offences.

All of these offences had all been independently investigated

and, actually, independently shut down.

Because the suspect was quite good, he did not leave any other clues.

Witnesses could describe him quite well,

but they were varying descriptions.

It was really CCTV imagery that was his undoing.

It was by us building up a series of all these shut-down crimes,

and then working out who it was and making them all live again.

The super-recognisers used their unique ability

to remember and positively identify a face

to place him at 43 crime scenes across London.

But they still did not have a name.

We had him wanted for a series of crimes and then did a media release

and we received anonymous information, with his name.

Once we had the first name, we were able to track him

through the custody system and found out who he was.

We got a first name - Austin - back.

We went through our arrest photo database, to every Austin.

I think there were 73 in the Metropolitan Police

who we had custody images of.

There was a real buzz when we identified him.

When the image of Austin Caballero came up and we were able to go,

"Bingo! That is the guy who has been on our wall for months."

Then, the trick was, how do we track him down?

We started looking at anyone who had ever committed a crime with him,

been stopped with him. And these are people we did not know before.

As super-recognisers,

we are also committing a face to memory, as well.

Criminals are not the kind of people

who go out speed dating together and then decide to go out

and commit a crime, or just meet.

There's always some kind of association.

We found that many of those people that he was associated with

had also committed similar crimes. We ended up with a total

of 100 crimes for him and his network of criminal friends.

We arrested those other people and they were brought to justice

for the crimes they had committed,

but Mr Caballero remained outstanding.

But now they knew who he was,

the team are not going to let him get away.

We looked at telephones that were associated with him.

We looked at bank accounts,

financial stuff he had been involved in.

And what we got when we were doing that was a real picture of him.

People he had come into contact with, as well,

they always have an opinion,

or he had done something that annoyed them.

It was interesting that they disliked him.

He was not even popular amongst the criminal community.

Eventually, this guy was always going to make some sort of mistake,

and we find that a lot with people we are trying to track.

On New Year's Day, he took a taxi cab, for some reason.

He decided not to pay the very small fare.

Now, who, knowing that they are wanted for 43 crimes,

would do that? You would think, if you are in that scenario,

you would pay the fare for the cab. But the suspect did not do that.

He caused a scene in the cab, which led to him being arrested.

However, when he was arrested,

he gave us false details. Then, the custody sergeant said,

"Hang on, we have not done your fingerprints yet.

"We'd better take those." As soon as they took the prints,

alarm bells rang - "Wanted x 43" - and we got the call.

I think Caballero was definitely under the illusion

he wouldn't be caught.

And he was right, really.

There was certainly a bit of...

arrogance and confidence about him.

One can only presume how many hundreds of crimes

he's gotten away with as well.

All their hard work paid off when they presented Caballero

with the painstakingly gathered CCTV evidence

showing he was not a petty thief, but a career criminal.

He was convicted on a guilty plea

and received just under a four-year sentence,

which is massive for shoplifting.

The number of offences and the value, you know,

in excess of £100,000 worth of property

stolen during these offences.

So it was a good hit.

It is wonderful to be at the forefront of new ways

of solving crime.

We are now solving more crimes than DNA.

Scotland Yard pioneered the use of fingerprints

and now we're pioneering the use of CCTV,

and people from around the world

want to come and see how we do it so well.

Tracking down and retrieving your stolen property

from the hands of thieves can be an almost impossible task,

especially once it's been passed down the criminal chain.

The Thief Trackers undercover team

are mounting our own surveillance operation.

Earlier on we had a bike stolen from a London side street.

He's going to go for it.

Gone.

Our undercover team picked up the trail of the thief

thanks to the tracker in the bike...

It's going through Paradise Park.

He's fast, ain't he?

..ending up in this North London housing estate.

The team has been on stakeout

and there's no sign of the gang.

Time to rattle the thief's cage a little with some mind games

to see if we can spook them into making a move.

The team leaflet the area,

asking if anyone has seen their stolen bike.

And our tactics work.

The bike is on the move, but whoever has it

has taken it out the back door,

with the Thief Trackers hot on their heels.

The GPS signal from the tracker on the bike leads the undercover team

to another North London housing estate just two miles away.

This is the building where I believe

our bike is at the moment.

It's quite a big estate. Lots of entrances and access points.

When we look at the status of the tracker,

they took it out yesterday for a little ride.

So, it's still being used,

which is good for us.

Let's head upstairs.

Let's try this first floor. See if it's here.

This was a gang that took the bike.

Let's check the top floor now,

see if it's on the landing outside any houses.

There's a bike.

All right, we're getting really close

to where the tracker thinks it is.

It's either here or the floor below.

One of these houses has the bike, definitely.

We need to get in the car

and stake it out a little bit...

to see if they come out for another little jaunt this evening.

Knowing the bike is in the building is one thing,

catching someone with it is another.

So the team wait.

Big crowd of people here.

Not our man, though.

Are you pretty sure it's him?

I'd say I'm 95% sure.

I think this young guy is not the guy that took the bike,

but definitely involved with that group.

It's interesting, though.

It means either he's now got it,

or the guy who did take it is still in the building as well

because the tracker says it's still here.

Not 100% it's one of the gang,

and with no sight of the bike,

the team decide to hold tight.

There are no further sightings,

but they keep watching.

Is that the bike? That's the bike, that's the bike!

OK.

He's got our stolen bike, and this team was definitely

at the scene of the crime when it was ripped from the railings.

And it looks like his mum's with him.

We're not the police so we can't accuse him of theft,

but we can ask him a few questions.

I was wondering if you've seen my bike around recently?

I lost it in this area. A bit like this one, yeah.

It's a bit like that one, with these kind of handlebars.

Have you seen it?

It's your friends?

Do you know where he maybe possibly got it from?

-It's his bike?

-Yeah, it's his.

No, no. Sorry.

Basically, I just saw it looks a bit like my bike that went missing.

I just had a bike that went missing recently in this area.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I would never say it was your...

Yeah.

All right.

They might claim it's a mate's bike,

but our unblurred footage speaks for itself,

analysed for us by our crime adviser Alex Stewart.

His mum claims he's innocent,

but that lad is definitely part of the group that stole our bike.

He's clearly been spooked by the confrontation

and ridden off as fast as he can.

They now know that we know who they are and where they are,

and not long after that conversation our tracking device went dead.

The likely scenario is that they've stripped the bike down,

found it and discarded it somewhere.

But our footage of that theft remains intact,

and we're more than happy to hand it over to the police

so they can take action.

It isn't often that police are able to catch crooks in the act,

so proving their guilt after the fact is difficult.

Advances in tracking and security technology

are helping in the fight against crime,

and car crime is no exception.

We had had a spate of carjackings

within the Coventry and Warwickshire area,

and at the time we were experiencing between two to three a week.

We had a very good idea who was responsible

but, like most things in the police,

knowing and evidence are completely two different things

and we were in the process of building an investigation

against those people.

But before the police could crack the case,

the thieves were about to strike again,

this time in the outskirts of Coventry

in an area local residents considered safe.

I've lived here for probably about 10, 15 years.

Everything is really close,

and I know quite a lot of people in the area, as well.

I've never felt unsafe, being here,

cos I know everybody,

so if anything's ever going on,

somebody somewhere along the line normally tells you about it anyway.

But one evening,

that was about to change for Tracy and her nine-year-old son Mitchell.

I have my nails done, and the lady who normally does my nails

used to come to my house, so I made an appointment with her...

..and then she rang me and asked me if I could go to the salon.

Me and my son then sort of jumped in the car,

cos my appointment was at seven o'clock at night.

But what Tracy didn't know was she was being watched,

and followed.

They always say you should trust your gut instinct

and I've never sort of been one for that sort of thing,

but my gut told me, as soon as I pulled into the road,

something told me something was wrong.

I parked the car up.

I was probably literally about 10 feet away from the door.

I get my nails done, they're looking all pretty and wonderful,

we leave the shop at sort of like... around eight o'clock.

And then I waited for my son

to get into the passenger side of the car,

and, as I go to close my driver's door,

I just feel there's something blocking it.

-Give me the keys!

-SCREAMING

He actually physically grabbed hold of me

and he just sort of threw me out of the car into the middle of the road.

He jumps into the car

and then whoever he was with

jumps in to the passenger side of the car.

And then they just drove off.

Go on!

Was that all right?

As soon as they started to drive away from me,

my next thought was, "Where's Mitchell?"

That's my little boy.

And I was just like "Oh, my God, Mitchell's in the car."

Slow down.

Luckily, Mitchell used his loaf.

He ran off down the road

and some ladies had come out,

they were just down the road and he was like,

"Please help me, my mummy's being murdered,"

cos that was his first thought,

he just thought someone was trying to kill me. So...

I get a bit upset by that.

The police literally missed them by seconds.

Because the car is so fast and so powerful,

you wouldn't have caught it.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

This was a pre-planned, organised crime group.

They will see a car, they will follow that car,

get to know that person's routine, comings and goings,

you know, a common street or route that it may pass,

take a photo of it

to then send on to the potential buyer,

to get a yes or no response,

and then they take their opportunity.

Where they chose to park the car was quite a quiet street.

Because it looked out of place or out of character for the area,

a member of the public rang up and informed the police

and we went out and recovered that vehicle,

and it was at that point

we then became aware of the footage that was on board.

What the thieves didn't know

was their every move was being filmed on a hidden camera,

recording their high-speed getaway and every word they said.

-Was that all right?

-No.

So, on there we can see that they are driving at speeds

where they almost collide with a taxi at 40mph taking that bend,

having just gone through a red light.

Yes, yes, yes!

It's excessive speeds,

not really any regard for any oncoming vehicles.

They parked the car up for around about an hour,

which we assume would be to see if the car has got a tracker on board.

They then met with the handlers and they sold it on,

and I think that part of the footage

was probably the most chilling to watch.

It just shows you how much disregard they had for anybody else.

It was all about getting that vehicle.

When we viewed the footage,

we were able to track the steps of the suspects.

Not only did we know the route that they had taken,

we were able then to track back to the main suspect's house.

When we went into the address,

we retrieved clothing that had been featured in the footage...

..which then put the offenders out for the relevant time periods

wearing the relevant clothing,

not only for this offence but other offences.

So that one piece of footage

allowed us to get the result that we did.

The carjackers were arrested and jailed.

But this has been a lasting nightmare

for both Tracy and her son.

Still, to this day, if I am going out on my own

and things like that, he'll still go, "Where are you going?"

We don't go out at night in the car.

I'm never going to feel safe again, never.

They've taken that away from me. It's gone now.

And although I try my hardest not to, you know,

not to let it bother me,

I mean, I like to consider myself to be a bit of a tough cookie,

but it's never going to go away.

It's always going to be there. Always.