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Bag snatchers, robberies and street crime. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
According to the latest police figures, | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
more than 3,500 incidents of theft are reported every day in the UK. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:10 | |
Tens of thousands of pounds worth of gold jewellery had been taken. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
The victim was devastated. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
But what happens to our belongings when they're stolen? | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
Thief Trackers shows who takes them and where they go. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
Hiding trackers inside items like cameras, | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
smartphones and bicycles to trace their every move. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
The thieves think they've got away with it. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
But we've got them under surveillance. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
Using undercover footage, CCTV and tracking technology, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
we'll get an insight into the criminal mind. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
And uncover the unseen journey that | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
our possessions take when they're stolen. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
Today the Thief Trackers are on the trail of stolen charity bags... | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
Stand by. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
She's taken it. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:11 | |
..tracking down the thieves as they escape with donations | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
meant for the needy. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:16 | |
Plus, investigators are on the trail of stolen plant machinery. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:26 | |
The value was about £68,000. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
No-one knew where they were going. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:30 | |
It's a race against time as it heads halfway across Europe. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
As it started to go through Germany, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
we realised that it was likely to go to Poland and that then it was | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
likely to go through the Ukraine and the Ukraine at that time was | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
involved in a civil war and it was a red line for us. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
And GPS technology helps track a burglar's footsteps. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
There was quite a lot of excitement when we looked at | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
the tracker-tagged data. His tag put him at the exact location. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:55 | |
Many people are under the impression that taking donations from outside | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
charity shops is perfectly legal. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
But it's not. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
In the last few years, all the major charities have been hit hard. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
Donations are down and the loss of revenue through theft is an | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
estimated £15 million. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
It's a crime that shocks the public. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
I think if it's left outside a charity shop, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
it's there to benefit someone else. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
People steal them to make a profit. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
Because obviously it's money for a good cause and people taking | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
advantage of that and taking it for themself. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
It's wrong, isn't it? Just because someone has dropped something on the | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
pavement doesn't mean you can steal it. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
People assume that it is the needy | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
that are stealing but often these days, it's just the greedy. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
Scumbags! | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
There isn't any better word than that, is there? | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
Helping the Thief Trackers with our investigation is our specialist | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
crime adviser, Alex Stewart. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
He was assigned to some of the toughest areas of London, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
both on patrol and as an undercover officer in his time on the force | 0:03:02 | 0:03:06 | |
with the Metropolitan Police. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
From theft to drugs to violent crime, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
he's seen what life is like on the streets. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
You would think that donations left outside charity shops would be safe | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
from theft but you would be wrong. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
Unfortunately, things have got so bad recently that many charity shops | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
are asking us not to leave donations outside. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
Affluent areas like this are rich targets for those who would steal | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
from the needy to line their own pockets and to show you how bad | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
things have got, we've left some of | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
our own donations outside some charity shops. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
We've hidden GPS trackers in some bags of charity donations. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
We won't tell you where, that would give the game away. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
If the bags are stolen, we can follow the signal on a smartphone | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
or tablet and track down the thieves. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
Following their every move is the Thief Trackers undercover team who | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
will be mounting a covert surveillance operation. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
For their safety, you won't see them but you'll hear their voices. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
Keep your camera on these guys. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
The team set up their stakeout outside a charity shop raising money | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
for hospice care, the dying. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
One of the team drops off our charity bags on the shop's doorstep | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
after closing time, just like a lot of us do. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
Legally, these donations are still the property of the owner until the | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
charity shop takes them in. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
The tracker hidden in the bag is live. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
Time to watch and wait. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
There are a few people walking by, window shopping. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
They wouldn't dream of stealing from those in need. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
The team have been here for around an hour and so far, it's been quiet. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:20 | |
Here we go. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | |
You two stand by. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
She's taken it. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
Quick, quick, quick, quick. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
The tracker team split up to try and catch up with the woman. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
One person follows in the car whilst two set off on foot in case she goes | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
through the back alley. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:43 | |
A lady on a bike has just taken the item. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
CAR HORN TOOTS | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
Jump in! Wearing a hi-vis yellow vest. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
Trying to track her down. She's very fast. Quick, quick, quick, quick. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
And we're in pursuit. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
The thief is peddling so fast that one of the team jumps into a car, | 0:05:58 | 0:06:02 | |
leaving only one of the team on foot to track the woman. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
We're stuck in traffic now. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
A good chance we're going to miss her. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
But the thief tracker on foot hasn't given up. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
He's got a strong signal and the bag snatcher is just around the corner. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
As he is not the police, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
he cannot accuse her of stealing but he can ask her why she took the | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
charity bag. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
Realising that she has been spotted taking the bag and being followed, | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
the thief has sped away. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
The tracker hasn't moved. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
Still got an eyeball on her? | 0:06:38 | 0:06:39 | |
I just saw her. She ignored me. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
I said, "Excuse me." She literally laughed and cycled off. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
Even with no signal to follow, | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
the team are not going to give in and still try to find her. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
She went straight down, right? | 0:06:55 | 0:06:56 | |
But she came out on the left here. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
-Yeah. -She saw me. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
I think the bag might be down there somewhere. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
She might've dumped it, she didn't have it on her. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
-I lost her. I ran after her but I couldn't keep up. -OK. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
But she definitely saw me and she definitely knew. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
I tried to stop her. I think she must have known because I said, | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
"Excuse me, excuse me." She must've heard me. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
But she didn't stop. She rode right past me. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
She looked me right in the eye, smiled a bit and kept on going. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
She's taken something from a charity shop on her bike. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
She doesn't even look in the bag, just picked it up and walked off | 0:07:28 | 0:07:32 | |
with it and then when you followed her, she's realised she is in | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
the wrong, she's spotted you and she's dumped it. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
Keep your eyes open. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
The thief trackers comb the streets, trying to find the woman, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
but with no tracker to follow, it's becoming futile. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
I think we've lost her. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
I think we've probably lost her. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
They've done all they can and the | 0:08:01 | 0:08:03 | |
only thing they can do is go back and retrieve the bag. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
OK, let's get the bag back. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
They got the bag back and although the woman on the bike got away, | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
what she did was illegal and could be reported to the police. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
But perhaps after watching this footage, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
she'll think twice about stealing from charity again. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
Later, the Thief Trackers come face-to-face with more charity thieves. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
You'll put it back? | 0:08:36 | 0:08:37 | |
But it's for a charity shop. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
OK. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:41 | |
The UK construction industry continues to be a target for organised gangs | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
with a staggering £70 million worth of plant machinery stolen in 2015. | 0:08:54 | 0:09:00 | |
But it's not just small, easy-to-move equipment that is snatched. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:04 | |
Thieves will drive off with huge machines, like the telescopic | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
handlers that can weigh up to ten tonnes. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
To combat this crimewave, | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
companies turn to trackers to try and protect their investments. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
CanTrack provide tracking equipment for everything from small cars up to | 0:09:18 | 0:09:24 | |
large construction equipment, trailers, trucks. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
To help protect these machines, like many tracking firms, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
they recruit highly experienced and specialised ex-police officers. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
Mick is one of our investigators who is an ex-police officer. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:38 | |
We typically look for that within the people that join the investigations team. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:42 | |
30-year retired officer, brings a wealth of experience. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
He's an ex-CID man so he is methodical, he's got an eye for detail. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
I joined South Yorkshire Police in 1983 and then in 2000, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
I joined the traffic department, as it was then. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
It was through that that I met John. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
John Mussett is the other member of the team. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
I was a police officer with South Yorkshire Police for 30 years. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
The majority of that was working in the traffic department. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
I was involved in a small team which South Yorkshire put together | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
specifically looking at stolen plant machinery so I had an ideal | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
background really to go into the | 0:10:18 | 0:10:19 | |
tracking side of things, which I have been doing since I retired. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
People steal plant machinery for money. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
They would steal them and export them. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
They are very valuable. They can get a lot of money for them. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
During a spate of plant machinery theft, a telescopic handler, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
worth around £70,000, was stolen in the Hampshire area. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
The machine was fitted with a tracker so the client called | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
the specialist team into action. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
The customer rang me out of hours, about eight in the morning, | 0:10:53 | 0:10:58 | |
to report it had gone overnight from a site down in Hampshire. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
The tracker initially, when we got the call, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
had given a location on the site the previous evening and then we heard | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
nothing from it. It tries to get on the network every four hours and on | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
this occasion, unfortunately, we got nothing for days. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
I think it was off the network for at least a week, maybe ten days. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:21 | |
So we were thinking that it was possible the tracker had been found. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
These machines, and there were a lot of them, were just disappearing. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
I think its value was about £68,000, which is a lot of money to anyone. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:39 | |
No-one knew where they were going, what was happening to them, | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
they were literally disappearing off the face of the earth. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
So we were just thinking, where has it gone, | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
are we going to hear from it again? Then suddenly the trackers woke up. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
It would appear it was still on the machine. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
The location it was giving was in the middle of France... | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
heading eastwards on one of the main motorways. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
I think it was very clear to us it was on the back of a lorry. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
We could determine that from the speed and the amount of distance | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
that was occurring between the updates that we were receiving | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
from the vehicle and because of the size of the machine, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
there's only a few different things that can actually transport that. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
So, whilst it was a surprise to us to see the unit pop up in France, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
because most of our thefts are dealt with on UK soil, | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
we were very quick to activate and react. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
As it started to go through Germany and we realised that it was likely | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
to go to Poland and if it went to Poland, it was likely to go down and | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
through the Ukraine which is an established route. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
Ukraine at that time was involved | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
in a civil war and it was a red line for us. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
We had liaised with the customer. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
They wanted us to go and find it. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
With information that we'd got from the Metropolitan Police Plant Unit, | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
we knew that a lot of these machines were heading into Eastern Europe. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
We knew we had a race basically to try and get someone out in front of | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
the machine if we could, then try and track it and guide the local police onto it. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:08 | |
My instructions were to go home and start packing a bag for potentially | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
getting on the first available flight to get out to Poland | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
because this thing was obviously moving. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
It was a bit of a rush from then on. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:24 | |
There's two ways we could have approached this so we could have put | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
Mick a long way ahead of the expected route, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
but if it had diverted into a different route, | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
we would've been really out of position. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
So, we're getting updates that are coming through every now and again | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
and literally, you blink, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
and it has appeared on another part of the map and you have to deal with | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
that real-time updated information. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
It became quite obvious that it was heading into Poland so Mick flew out | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
to Warsaw on Friday, late on, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
and I was basically in the back office with him, | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
watching where the tracking unit was showing up, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
contacting Mick on his mobile and letting him know where the search area was. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:06 | |
I eventually landed in Warsaw at 8:00 at night. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
I found my hire car and the first | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
message I got was that it was about an hour and a half south of Warsaw. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:16 | |
Unfortunately, by the time he got there, the machine was level with | 0:14:18 | 0:14:22 | |
him, south of Warsaw on the motorway near a town called | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
Radon or Radom. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
It took me about an hour and a half to get down to Radom. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
John had told me that the machine had stopped talking to us again. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
So we didn't have an up-to-date location in the last hour. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:40 | |
Basically, I had to go to where it last spoke to us and said it was, | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
so I had a look around and I had an hour of searching, | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
trying to pick up a signal from the RF receiver that's in the machine. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:52 | |
As the GPS signal had stopped working, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
they reverted to the radio-frequency signal, known as RF. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:00 | |
I couldn't find anything and by this time, it's 11:30, at which time, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:04 | |
I was told, try and find yourself a hotel. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:06 | |
I eventually found a hotel and the night porter didn't speak any | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
English, so we were actually conversing through his computer in Google Translate. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:16 | |
So he took me to the local cash machine, | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
paid for my room and managed to get to bed that night about 12:30 or 1:00 at night. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
The next morning, the tracker signal wasn't moving. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
We kind of guessed that the lorry driver was probably having his break | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
so we'd anchored the machine so when | 0:15:39 | 0:15:40 | |
it next woke up and came into signal, it would ping an alert. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:44 | |
It did that on the Saturday morning to me. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
I got back in touch with Mick and the machine was about an hour | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
in front of him - heading eastwards towards the Ukraine border. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
John rang me saying it had switched on and was driving out of Radom, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
heading onto the E12. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
So I had to quickly gather all my things together and | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
into the car and all the time John is directing me. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:14 | |
The most I had was the sat nav. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:15 | |
I was putting various locations in as he was telling me where to head. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
He was also trying to give me some shortcuts because obviously the lorry couldn't take minor roads. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:25 | |
It had to follow the main roads. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:28 | |
The point where Mick actually caught up with it was a really tense time | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
for us. This unit was getting ping by ping by ping closer to | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
the Ukraine border. Remember, that's our red line. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
We don't go there. We cannot safely enter the territory and we wouldn't | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
dream of asking Mick to go in there, so we've got this one opportunity | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
which is the border between Poland and Ukraine and the unit was heading | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
for it minute by minute. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:52 | |
We had made contact with The Met Police, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
the specialist in plant theft, | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
and they were liaising with the Polish police on our behalf to try | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
and give me some contacts because obviously if I find, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
or when I find the machine, | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
I'm going to need some help from the police because if there's people | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
there, they'll need arresting and just the simple recovery of the | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
machine in itself needs police assistance. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
When you're working in another country, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
you can't just pick up the phone and call the local police number. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
There are channels that we have to work through. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
There's official and unofficial channels that can be utilised | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
and it's logistically very, | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
very difficult and you need to make | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
sure that you make the right phone call at the right time. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
John was telling me that on the night, I was getting very, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
very close to it so I was within four or five minutes of it. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:39 | |
I started picking up a signal. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
I knew I was getting close. Obviously I didn't know what vehicle | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
I was looking for, or anything like that. I knew the machine I was | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
looking for but not what lorry I was looking for. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
So, the adrenaline got going. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
That was when I started to think, if I actually find this lorry, | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
what am I going to do? How am I going to stop it? | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
Am I going to drive in front of it and try and pull it over or what? | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
I was trying to think, this is going to be getting interesting! | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
I was just getting very, very close when John rang me and said | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
the information was that the Polish police had actually stopped a lorry | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
with a machine in. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
Just as he said that, I came upon these two unmarked | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
police cars parked at the side of the road and my signalling device | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
was going absolutely berserk, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
so I pulled up at the side of them, met them. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
We opened the back of the lorry and sure enough, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
in the back of it was this machine. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
What I didn't realise was, | 0:18:43 | 0:18:44 | |
we were only 50 kilometres from the Ukraine border and that this machine | 0:18:44 | 0:18:48 | |
was actually heading into Ukraine and I wouldn't've been able to | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
follow it if it had got to Ukraine | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
because my car insurance wouldn't have allowed me to go there! | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
But thankfully, we got it stopped. | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
This recovery had a great effect on thefts that were occurring in the | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
North Hampshire, Surrey area. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:10 | |
As soon as this one was stopped, it literally put an end to it. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
We spent over two days playing this game of chess with these guys. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
They were literally that close to | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
getting over the line and getting away with that theft and we stopped | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
them and pulled them back at the last minute so the message | 0:19:25 | 0:19:28 | |
is loud and clear - you can steal it in the UK but we will follow you to | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
the ends of the earth to get that kit back and we did it. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
Earlier on, we left a bag of donations outside a hospice charity | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
shop which raises money for the dying. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
We left it when they had closed for the evening, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
as many of us do when we can't get there during the day. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
The bag was clearly marked that it was a donation. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
It wasn't long before someone stole our bag, which is illegal, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
unaware there was a tracker hidden inside. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
As soon as the thief realised we were on her trail asking questions... | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
..she dumped it. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:14 | |
To prove just how widespread the problem is, the same night, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
we put another bag with a tracker in it outside a different charity shop. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
This time, one raising funds for cancer. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
We'll see if anyone else wants to help themselves to donations that | 0:20:29 | 0:20:33 | |
are meant to help those in society who need it most. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:35 | |
The Thief Trackers team have set up the cameras. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
Time to watch and wait. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
Five minutes later and another cyclist is showing interest. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:48 | |
This time, it's a man. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
He's going to go for it. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
It's gone. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:55 | |
Quick, quick, quick, quick. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
The tracker is on the move and shows the route the man is taking so | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
the team set off in hot pursuit. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
The cyclist is aware of the Thief Trackers on his tail, | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
but he doesn't stop. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:26 | |
They can't accuse him of theft as they're not the police. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
They can ask him why he has taken it. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
Sorry, mate. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
Eventually, the man with the bike decides to stop. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
We just dropped it out there. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:51 | |
Yes, but it's for a charity shop. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
You'll put it back? | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
But it's for a charity shop. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:05 | |
Where are you taking it? | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
We just left it there. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
-OK, you put it there. -OK. No worries. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:26 | |
The man says he was taking the bag to his home and | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
bringing it back into the shop in the morning. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
Whatever has happened in this case, one thing is certain, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
anyone who takes a charity bag from outside a charity shop and has no | 0:22:36 | 0:22:41 | |
intention of giving it back is committing a crime and it's not a | 0:22:41 | 0:22:45 | |
victimless crime. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
Taking money from those that need it. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
Reading in Berkshire is a vibrant commercial town in the south-west of England. | 0:22:55 | 0:23:00 | |
An urban area with a diverse population and like any town, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:04 | |
it has its crime hot spots. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
Reading itself is an incredibly busy town. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
It's got a very diverse population. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
The area of Newtown itself is quite heavily populated by Asian families | 0:23:11 | 0:23:17 | |
and also by students from the nearby Reading University. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
We do get quite a lot of burglaries in the Newtown area. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:27 | |
It does tend to go in phases, | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
so we have a series of them happening and then for a while, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
it tends to quieten down a bit. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:33 | |
I enjoy the challenge of investigating burglaries because | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
they're very difficult to prove. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:39 | |
Her tracking skills were soon put to the test with another break-in. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
It happened at a terraced house | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
during the day. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
The family were out | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
at a family celebration. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
The offender got into this particular property at the rear of the premises. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
The family had left an upstairs window very slightly ajar to allow | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
air to circulate in the house. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
He had entered their back garden and climbed onto a flat roof and he let | 0:24:14 | 0:24:19 | |
himself in through the rear window | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
of the house whilst the family weren't at home. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
On this occasion, he has only taken the Asian gold jewellery and also | 0:24:24 | 0:24:29 | |
items of currency. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
They were easy to carry, | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
it's the kind of items that can be put into a pocket or a small bag. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
I don't think he was in the house for a significant period of time. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
I think he was only inside for a few minutes before he's left again. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
Of course, he doesn't want to be caught, should anybody come home, | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
so the idea is to get in and get out as quickly as possible. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
The victim was obviously quite devastated about it because | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
the items that were taken were very personal to them. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
They were family heirlooms and had been in the families for generations | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
upon generations. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:06 | |
So I believe he actually felt almost quite responsible for the fact that | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
whilst he'd been effectively looking after it for his family, | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
it had been taken from him. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
The first place the police looked was the database of usual suspects, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
some of whom were wearing GPS tracker tags, which record their every movement. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:26 | |
The idea behind the GPS tracker tags is actually to stop | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
offences occurring. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
We use it in order to actually monitor prolific offenders. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:37 | |
They wear them to stop us from going round to see them quite so often. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:41 | |
By wearing it, they can effectively get on with their lives, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:45 | |
safe in the knowledge that we are not going to turn up to say hello at | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
3:00 in the morning. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
Unbelievably, one of these tag-wearing criminals hadn't quite | 0:25:49 | 0:25:54 | |
grasped the concept of tracking technology. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
When we looked at this particular suspect, | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
we could see that during the period | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
when the burglary could have occurred, his GPS tracker tag put | 0:26:01 | 0:26:05 | |
him at the exact offence location. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
He was previously known to us for having committed burglary offences. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
There was obviously quite a lot of excitement when we looked at the | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
tracker tag data and knew we had enough evidence there to arrest him | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
and charge him with the offence. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
We went to an address that we know he is often at and he was present | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
there. He was with his girlfriend so we arrested him for the offence of | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
burglary and we searched the room that he was in and we in fact found | 0:26:31 | 0:26:37 | |
some of the currency that he had stolen. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
It was very unique currency and was made up of about five or six | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
different countries' currencies so it was quite unique denominations. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:49 | |
So whilst currency in itself isn't particularly unique, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
the make-up of what was present was also particularly useful for us in | 0:26:51 | 0:26:56 | |
terms of proving that he had actually committed the offence. | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
I actually anticipated that he would have admitted the offence, | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
given that the GPS tracker-tag data from the tag on his ankle actually | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
put him at the offence location but surprisingly, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
he carried on denying the offence | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
and even entered a not guilty plea in court. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
When he was interviewed in police custody, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
he actually claimed that he was simply in the area because he was | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
visiting a friend in the very next door property. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
It was a particularly easy case but it was overwhelming evidence and we | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
were able to convince a jury that he had committed the offence and as a | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
result of doing it, he received a hefty prison sentence of four years. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
Unfortunately, although they solved the case, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
they didn't find the family's jewellery and it remains missing. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
We will not give up on investigating burglaries simply because of how | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
intrusive the crimes are. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
The message to thieves is basically, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
we will hunt you down and we will find you for it. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 |