Burglar in the House

This programme contains some strong language

Every two minutes a house in Britain is burgled.

And for years Nottingham has suffered the highest burglary rates in the UK.

-Every drawer's been pulled out and emptied?

-Everything.

There wouldn't be a day go by without nine, ten breaks in a night.

She's unable to provide any form of decent description whatsoever, apart from "white man."

Burglars, they're just cowards. In my opinion, they're scum.

Carlos, hello.

The city's police are fighting back.

We've had a challenging time, but we are absolutely determined

to become one of the safest places in the country.

Now, they're capturing the burglars on camera.

We're in a battle with burglars, using technology as our weapon.

We catch these burglars red-handed whilst they're committing offences,

and it's on camera, what can they say to that?

They're installing hidden mini-cams inside ordinary homes,

which record the thieves in action.

They call them capture houses.

And they're Nottingham's new weapon in the fight against crime.

You've got Sandhu clearly pointing up to the camera.

He's not the brightest spark, is he?

But is this new technology as reliable as the police think?

That is not me, mate. Look at the face, that's not me. You know it's not.

I'm being questioned here, right, for summat I know I have not done.

And should the police be allowed to set traps for burglars?

-No curtains, windows open, laptop sitting there. That's just making them want to do it.

-It's a set-up.

If it was entrapment we wouldn't be allowed to do it.

They may think that house is in darkness, that there'll be a laptop

in there, and we're saying we'll catch you and you'll go to jail.

There's no doubt.

It's 10am in Nottingham, and the police are pursuing a burglar.

RADIO: It's a white male, age 20, wearing black trousers and a grey stripy jumper with a hood.

It takes you back to your uniform days!

HE LAUGHS

The growing problem of burglary across Britain means the police

are now exploring new and more effective ways of tackling break-ins.

Well, I've stopped you because you look very similar to a person

who's just tried to get into a property.

And, increasingly, they're turning to technology.

DS Craig Luckett favours capture houses.

I like capture houses a lot.

They're set up in specific areas which have had issues with burglary,

the main aim is to snag a burglar in the process of committing the crime

because we can't go and put cops in every single house

waiting for a burglar to break in, can we?

So this is one other tactic that we employ

to see if we can capture and identify the burglar responsible.

We want the burglars to know that we use this facility, you know,

and every time they try and break into a house

I want them thinking, "Is this a capture house I'm getting in?

"Am I going to get captured on CCTV or what other little nasties are going to be hiding?"

The burglary team was set up five years ago when burglaries in the city were at a record level.

Using capture houses they hope to make the people of Nottingham feel secure in their own homes.

They're the best technique we've got of catching a burglar

and putting him away again.

You obtain the evidence quickly, you make your arrest quickly

and you send them to jail quickly.

Capture house cameras record constantly,

catching burglars in action day or night.

DS Dave Bola oversees the technology.

The thing about capture houses

is it's a trap we set up to catch the person to get evidence needed to prosecute them,

because most houses that are burgled,

we never have any eye-witnesses

because people are asleep or not at home and they're empty.

Burglars are getting smarter, wearing gloves,

or their faces are covered.

But technology's moved on so much

that we can overcome difficulties that are put to us,

to try and apprehend them.

We're in a battle with burglars in Nottingham

and we're using technology as our weapon against them.

Home office alarm.

Camera cables.

The capture houses are set up by an undercover team whose identity must remain secret.

We would never dress in uniform,

everything we do would be designed to look the opposite of the police.

Today we happen to look like anyone involved in maintenance work.

Other days we could be smartly dressed

and in a business-type environment,

so we mix and match the dress-code according to where we're working.

The location of the capture house also has to remain confidential.

They can be anywhere, doctors' surgeries, student halls,

old people's homes and, sometimes, just one room in an ordinary house.

The capture rooms that we set up in occupied houses are made secure,

so they wouldn't be able to get into the rest of the house

through that door from that capture room,

so the occupants are safe.

This is designed to look like an old person's flat,

in which we'll leave some goodies

that's of value or interest to some bad people.

The police use fake or faulty goods as the loot.

We put dummy equipment in there to attract somebody to break into it.

We use a lot of laptops, a lot of iPods, mobile phones.

We'll put them on display in houses with open windows or curtains

for them to think it's worthwhile to break into it,

which will then set off alarms which notify us, and we'll be there within minutes.

The alarm is activated at the local police station when someone breaks in.

The cameras hidden within this room could be hidden in anything,

in any objects that you see within this room could potentially be used.

The key weapon in a capture house is the covert camera.

The final part of the trap

is a forensic liquid,

which is concealed beneath anything from a wallet to a laptop,

and is sprayed when the object is picked up.

This is the actual SmartWater canister itself.

We can conceal this in all manner of items within the premises.

When activation takes place this will be discharged through a pipe,

through a nozzle,

and will spray the offender right in the middle of what they're doing.

When a burglar is sprayed, particles of the liquid

stick to their skin and clothes

and it will illuminate under ultraviolet light.

Because the liquid in each canister has its own unique code

the evidence is indisputable.

It's a bit like DNA.

You know, like one in one billion chance of it being duplicated.

It just doesn't happen.

There are legal restrictions in what police can and cannot do

when enticing the burglar to the capture house.

Legally, we can't make somebody do something that they wouldn't have done anyway.

If we contacted a potential burglar saying,

"You want to go down this particular street, because it's easy catchings to get into a house."

That would be totally wrong.

Because we'd be enticing them to come down there.

We can't make it too obvious from a legal point of view, agent provocateurs,

the stated cases previously say you can't put something on a window sill

with a window wide open because it may encourage somebody

to do something they wouldn't normally do.

The trap is almost set. Just one more thing to add.

With a bit of a light-hearted touch thrown in,

with it being a bee, this is going to be a bit of a sting operation,

so it's our little, perhaps, joke on this occasion.

It's Tuesday night in Nottingham.

And when the city's residents go out, the burglars move in.

But this time the burglar has chosen the wrong house.

It's a capture room and the alarm is triggered at the police station.

But the man is in and out in ten seconds.

Dave Bola is notified.

To me, it's a brilliant result.

Seems strange saying that, it's a brilliant result being burgled.

I'm happy that it's Nottinghamshire Police that's the victim,

not another member of the public, and it gives us an opportunity to try and catch that person.

As Dave arrives, uniformed police are already at the house,

but the offender has fled.

The capture room is in a house occupied by five female students

and the room has been sealed off,

stopping the burglar getting access to the rest of the house.

There should have been a laptop on the desk over there,

which was near the window, which obviously isn't there.

You can also see that the SmartWater has activated in this area here.

That's the hard drive

that records the images from the cameras that are in this room.

To be honest, I don't know where the cameras are here.

I didn't fit this room out.

The students living in the house were unaware of the break-in.

We were so shocked that, like, they'd been in our house

and out of our house and we did not hear one thing at all.

Like, I thought I'd hear something, at least.

It's lucky we did have this police thing because if that happened,

and we didn't have this, they could have got into the rest of the house.

If you've got any concerns or fears then just give me a ring,

I'll come down and see you.

Then when we get somebody arrested

and if somebody goes to court we'll keep you updated about it.

The footage clearly shows the burglar stealing the laptop.

But his face is well covered.

This could make it difficult for Dave to identify him.

The alarm was activated about 25 past.

Cor, that was quick.

Just watch that again.

He's obviously quite well covered as well, isn't he?

Burglars are more forensically aware.

Some of them come in the houses masked up, gloved up,

and people think,

"How on earth can you identify somebody through a mask?"

It can be done.

If they're well-known offenders it can easily be done,

just through looking at their eyes.

And this picture gives you a better angle of what height

and what build the person might be, which might help.

I don't know if that looks like Scott Sims to me, to be honest.

I'm still thinking Scott Sims because he is quite tall,

and he looked 5'10, 6 foot, he did.

Dave has arrested Scott Sims before.

And with eight burglaries on his record he's now the No.1 suspect.

Dave has to move fast to arrest him,

before he can remove traces of the SmartWater spray.

Can we come in and see you for a second?

Can I see this thing on my face?

No. You know what it's about. Get changed. We're going.

Otherwise I'll drag you out like that. Come on.

Sims, I've dealt with since he was a young kid,

so, I've got quite a good knowledge of what he looks like,

he'd been involved in a few incidents prior to that burglary,

he'd been arrested for two burglaries the previous month,

so I was aware of what he looked like.

He was always on the top of my mind as being active at the time.

So far, Dave's identification is the only evidence linking Sims to the burglary.

Finding SmartWater on his clothes or body will strengthen the police case.

He would have washed and a majority of SmartWater, no doubt,

will be off him.

However, there's no possible way that he'll be able to get rid of everything,

so, you imagine having a full aerosol dispersal into your face,

you're going to wash the front bits.

There's other areas where it's going soak in

where you're not going to be able to get rid of

and it's going to stick to your skin.

The SmartWaters, it can't be seen in normal light,

the moment a UV torch is put onto it, it glows up a luminous yellow.

That is a clear indication to me that that contains SmartWater.

The suspect's clothes and shoes are sent to the lab for analysis,

and the liquid particles are confirmed to be SmartWater.

They came from the canister at the capture house,

proving, beyond doubt, that Sims is the burglar in the footage.

But not everyone thinks that capture houses are helping to bring down the city's burglary rate.

Scott's family claim he was turning his life around

when he was caught in the capture house trap.

They're on about trying to stop crime when they're not. Leaving a window open with a laptop in there.

No curtains, windows open, laptop sitting there. Come and take me, that's what it's saying.

How is that stopping crime? That's just making them want to do it

cos it's that easy.

You wouldn't go and put a child in front of a paedophile

and leave them in the room would you, to capture them,

because he's got history of being a paedophile.

So, why, if somebody's got a history of burglaries, would you do it?

You know, where do you draw the line?

-You're setting 'em up.

-You're setting 'em up. It's a set-up.

Some people might be concerned

that this could be construed as entrapment.

We're not going to an individual and saying, "We think you should commit a burglary."

Then, lo and behold, they do it, and we catch them.

That would be entrapment.

We're just having a house that could be your house, it could be my house,

which we just happen to set up some security arrangements in,

in the same way as that if you put an alarm in your house

or put a CCTV camera in your house, it's exactly the same.

If they choose to commit an offence with arrows prompting them,

then that is a legitimate way forward.

If it was entrapment we wouldn't be allowed to do it,

you know, we wouldn't get convictions at court.

You know, there'd be all uproar with blooming' human rights and all that.

We don't do anything different than normal householders do.

Normal householders leave the windows unlocked, the windows open,

leave all the doors open or whatever.

We merely mirror that, and if somebody breaks into it,

it's on their own free will and their own free doing

and they have to suffer the consequences that come with it.

DRILLING

As you can see with the amount of equipment that's out,

we're kitting this out now as we speak.

It's quite a nice, clean and tidy room.

Nottingham's capture houses have been in operation since 2008

and, so far, they've enabled the police to catch 30 burglars red handed.

A lamp shade over there. You can put cameras into the curtain.

Dave Bola is proud of their success in protecting the city's residents.

We had this elderly woman who had Alzheimer's and was reporting

to her care worker and family that things were going missing, things were getting moved,

but it was always put down to her illness and just her lack of memory.

Eventually they did report it.

We put in some covert cameras into her house,

as a result of that we did actually find that an offender

had come into the property and had stolen the money.

That person was arrested and convicted for that.

We use this technology for a number of things,

even simple things like anti-social behaviour.

We're setting one up now whereby there's a member of the community

just fed up with kids on his street graffiti-ing walls,

damaging vehicles, cherry knocking on their door and running away,

cos it's the quality of life for people that we're trying to improve.

While the capture houses have helped reduce the burglary rate,

in the last few weeks there has been a new wave of break-ins.

That Lenton triangle area, we've had a couple on there,

it was a PS3 and a laptop taken.

The most current hotspot is in the new Lenton beat.

But at present we can't say that we've had anybody arrested,

to say that that hotspot's going to disappear.

We need to start looking at the new Lenton beat to identify what other properties are down there

that might be available to set up as capture houses

to try and identify who the offenders are in those areas.

If we have numerous burglaries occurring in one area

and we've got no form of intelligence

or no other methods of identifying that person responsible,

we put a capture house in the middle of that hotspot, you know.

Odds are in our favour that the capture house will get broken into,

and then we've got the, you know, we've got the offender.

The effectiveness of a capture house depends on its location.

And the team spend a lot of time seeking suitable addresses.

I think for me, when I'm looking, you've got to try and think like a burglar.

A burglar wants to break into a house and get out of it as quickly as possible, and I do the same.

I try and look for houses that have got ground-floor-opening windows

as a first choice, because they're just so much easier to break into.

Today, Dave is looking for a front room in an occupied house.

I'm thinking about whether that one, the ground one. Shall we try that?

Do you mind if I come in and speak to you? Save us talking on the street. Cheers, pal.

Dave has found his house.

Now he has to persuade the tenants to allow him to use it.

Since Friday we've had about four burglaries on Derby Road

and Douglas Road, and I'm trying to get something set up to try

and see if I can catch who that is.

One of the tactics that we use is using capture houses.

What we do is basically take over a room and put our equipment in it.

-Right.

-Have you got an empty room?

-No, we don't.

But most of us will be moving out in about a month's time.

-Is there no-one moving out before then?

-No.

Do you fancy staying with your girlfriend for a week while we used your room?

-I would do that.

-Would you be all right with that?

-Absolutely.

Fantastic. You need to check with your girlfriend first, she'll have to put you up for a week.

Oh, yeah. She'll be fine with it.

As the tenant has agreed to move out with all his belongings,

Dave and his team can now move in.

We don't put a capture house in an area where we don't think it's going be targeted,

that would be a fruitless exercise,

there's no point in wasting all the technology.

Some capture houses don't get broken into for several weeks,

but there are some capture houses that we've recently set up

that are broken into within a matter of days.

The ones that then get broken into

you see it stopping, you don't see any more burglaries in that area

and that's how I measure the success of choosing the right location

in putting a capture house in.

Dave's instincts pay off.

And only a week after being set up, the capture house is hit.

DC Chris Taylor has gone to investigate.

-Hiya.

-All right?

-Have Scenes of Crime been?

-They have been.

-Point of entry's the window.

Definitely the window, the door was secure when I got here

and secured as we left it.

So what was in here to try and capture?

-That laptop.

-Have we got any ideas why it's not been taken?

When the SmartWater is triggered

-the laptop's been ditched on the bed before he's run out.

-OK.

The forensic liquid is everywhere and under ultraviolet light,

the burglar's footprints are clearly visible.

The footwork pattern is like a zigzag pattern,

you can start to make out the lettering,

and I think that will say Diesel.

But it's the hidden cameras that reveal the burglar's identity.

Let me take you back to the beginning of it.

Any minute now, I think.

I know who that is, that is a previous burglar.

That's Zahid Ali Khan.

He's got such a unique face.

I've met him on a number of occasions for burglaries.

He's been to jail for burglaries in this area.

We thought he'd changed his ways,

he'd not been seen in suspicious circumstances in the last few months

since he's come out of jail, which is why we've not considered him.

But this is just, well, it's him.

Khan, a known drug addict, has a criminal career stretching over 25 years

and, like many burglars, he's a frequent re-offender.

It's the same burglars. They always repeat their offending.

So, where 8% of your offenders commit about 80% of your crime on your area,

you only need to lock up a handful of burglars

and you're going to have a massive reduction in your burglary figures.

So, crime will go down once these people are locked up.

OK, so that's Zahid,

for those of you that don't know what Zahid looks like.

It's 6:30 am and Craig's team are preparing to raid Khan's house.

He's picked up that laptop from that desk,

the SmartWater's gone off in his face,

and he's dropped it on the bed.

Fantastic. Absolutely amazing.

Yeah, with the burn. Fantastic.

KNOCKING ON DOOR

-Can I just come in and have a look with you? Is that OK? Are you a sister?

-Yes.

If he's in, I'm just going to arrest him.

Khan's not at home.

But he's left some fresh evidence on the washing line.

His shoes have obviously been put in the washer.

The tread on the sole matches what Chris has got on his pictures

of the SmartWater.

I'm definitely eager to get my hands on him

and it's a disappointment that you come in early doors, expecting he'll be at the home address and he's not,

but that's career criminals for you.

They're always going to be on their toes.

But it'll come, we've got more friends than he has, and it'll come.

I think it's Derby Road end.

Five hours after the police knocked on Khan's door the team have a lead.

Can you just hang on there, two minutes?

Is it a game of, like, cat and mouse?

Yeah, it is cat and mouse.

Some days you'll catch it, some days you won't.

You know, we've only got to get lucky once, the offenders

have got to be lucky every day trying to stay away from us.

Unfortunately for Khan it's not his lucky day.

Police find SmartWater from the capture house on Khan and his clothes.

The evidence is overwhelming.

There's flecks in his hair, behind his ears there.

Now watch this, see, it doesn't come off like dandruff,

that's cos it's a chemical. OK?

Is it a good feeling when you know you've got them,

you know, before the interview?

Oh, yeah, of course it is. You can go in there with a bit of,

you know, a bit of a skip in your step type of thing,

because no matter which way we go with the interview,

whether it be a "no comment" response, it'll be a charge,

and if he even gives us an account it'll be a charge.

So it's nice to be in that position.

Do you know what a capture house is?

I'm going to play you some footage and I want your comments about it.

Can you see that picture?

You kind of look forward to the...

to the point that you're actually going to play the footage,

just to see their face and their expressions.

They're told they've been caught for a burglary, not it's a capture house

and we've got hidden surveillance cameras inside,

that way they can clearly see

how screwed they really are.

You're under arrest on suspicion of burglary and theft which occurred on the 26th June, 2011.

Zahid, that's my favourite photo of you.

The other ones are probably not ones to go up on the mantelpiece.

If you want to stop for a consultation.

Consultation?

We've just put the evidence to him about the SmartWater and the CCTV.

Craig, how did he look?

Drained.

I would love to be a fly in their room at the moment.

Talk your way out of that one.

Khan is left with no alternative

but to admit to being the burglar in the capture house.

While capture houses are a new weapon in the battle against burglary

Notts Police have been using CCTV cameras to combat crime

for nearly 30 years.

Craig and the team are reviewing footage from a break-in

in a flat above the White Hart Pub in Nottingham City Centre.

We'll follow him through the pub to see if we can get some good shots to see if we can identify him.

There we go, we've got him there.

That is Lee Sandhu on that CCTV

that's just come into the beer garden.

And they've come in and...

you've got Sandhu clearly pointing up to the open window.

And he's even pointing at the CCTV camera as well.

He's not the brightest spark, is he? That's definitely 100% Lee Sandhu.

And I guarantee you, as a burglary's been there

and Lee Sandhu's also at the same location

I can almost 100% guarantee that he's the one that's committed the burglary.

Lee Sandhu and his associate Carl Beard are identified at the burglars.

The pair are seen on CCTV leaving the beer garden and going up the stairs.

Off-camera, they then enter a flat through an open window,

and a few minutes later they can be seen leaving with the stolen goods.

The CCTV is brilliant, isn't it? Especially at this pub.

I think technology has massively changed

the way that the police operate.

I don't think there's one shop nowadays

that won't have a CCTV system in it.

You know, we rely upon it so much.

But the good thing is it's there,

we know it's there and the bad guys and girls know it's there as well.

Unlike the capture houses this burglary has a victim.

Craig and DC Jason Woods have gone to meet him.

His name is Davinda Maheel.

They basically took my PlayStation, my laptop, it's everything,

obviously I've got to hand in essays on, like, Wednesday,

so there are deadlines I've got to meet,

that's why I was in the library all the time.

But it's just the memories, stuff on the laptop as well,

you can't really like, get back.

You said you weren't that keen on sleeping in here, were you?

Well, I thought I'd be fine, but it's a little bit weird,

-until you get something happen you don't really notice it.

-Yeah. You're a victim of a crime.

-Yeah.

There's no shame in any reaction. You have no control over it,

you're in your own home,

-you would think you're allowed to keep your own window open.

-Yeah

Student houses have been hit the hardest

in Nottingham's recent wave of burglaries,

with several residents all owning laptops

they provide rich pickings for the burglars.

And when the laptops are stolen

DC Jason Woods has to pick up the pieces.

Their life is on it,

not only their personal life as in photos et cetera,

and the things that mean sentimental value to them, but their work.

I can't imagine having done nine months study, to have it all

on there ready to write up my final dissertation, for it to be gone.

I mean, what do you do?

I think I would fall to bits.

Lee Sandhu, one of the two suspects in the laptop burglary,

has already been arrested

and is about to get a chance to see himself in action.

You enter the White Hart public house,

you then go straight through into the beer garden at the back

where you then point up at an open window which is to a flat.

You then go upstairs, you're then in there for a few minutes,

come back down carrying the goods that were stolen,

then make off with one of the males. All this is caught on camera.

It's great when you interview somebody,

they deny it or say, "no comment",

and then you have the images, they're not expecting it, they don't know what we've got.

And then you show the images of them going in, and the look on their face and the colour drains,

you know, and it's... That's just brilliant.

-So did you commit the burglary, Lee?

-Yeah.

Yeah? Do you want to tell me about it?

-I can't remember much.

-Right.

-I was too high on drugs.

-What do you think you'd taken that day?

-Heroin.

Carl Beard, the other suspect, is still at large.

The search for him takes DC Jason Woods back to his home territory.

You know, I sort of grew up with a lot of people from St Ann's.

We all have our choices.

I know a number of people that I went to school with

that have served time in prison. Now I choose to go with the right people.

But, I suppose, I'm like anybody else,

if I'd have gone with the other people,

I might not be sat here now doing what I do.

Police suspect that Beard is at a local drug den.

Stu, just hold back a second, mate.

We've just seen a lad we're going to have a look at.

There he is.

Carlos, hello!

-What's the matter?

-You're under arrest, mate.

-For what?

Their hunch was right,

and Beard is caught on the street after smoking crack.

-You won't be able to take that, that'll have to be destroyed.

-OK.

-PHONE RINGS

-Who is it?

-My girlfriend.

-How do you know?

It says my wife on it. Hello? They've just grabbed me now.

-Burglary.

-Carl?

-Yeah?

-I'm going to turn...

-All right, I've got to go anyway.

-Turn your phone off, OK?

-Yeah.

Can you remember what you were doing on the night of the 18th?

Not really. We went to the pub for a drink.

So who did you go in the pub with?

-A friend.

-Right.

-I just went in.

-Yeah.

-Had a drink, sat in the back,

spoke to a couple of people,

smoked a couple of fags, that's it.

There's obviously a reason you're here, you're not just plucked out.

There was a burglary at that address.

I'm just going to show you some CCTV from the night in question.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

So that shows you coming in the pub together, the lad behind you. Now I know that male to be Lee Sandhu.

-OK.

-I know that's who it is.

See on the gate there, there's a sign.

-What does it say?

-That says "Private. No Entry".

I didn't see that.

Lee then points at the CCTV camera, so he knows there's a camera there.

What a dickhead.

You're just doing some robot dancing to yourself in the corner.

Lee now comes down, now carrying a laptop.

You've now taken your jacket off and you've got it covering the bag,

and you both run off.

-Now you've watched the CCTV is there anything you want to say to me that's different?

-No, I don't.

-The camera never lies.

-Obviously.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

What can I say? Bang to rights, me.

Yeah, you are, aren't you?

Mm. I've been caught on camera.

Both Sandhu and Beard have admitted their guilt

and they will be sentenced by the courts.

The increasing use of camera footage by Nottingham's Police Force

is making life difficult for the city's burglars.

And capture house technology is particularly unpopular.

Stiggy has been a prolific burglar and, unsurprisingly,

is no fan of capture houses.

They're setting people up to get caught

when they can't catch 'em really, they have to make a burglary for 'em

to catch 'em doing it, cos they can't get 'em doing it themselves.

A known a burglar who needs money for drugs

and there's a burglary there in his face, no-one about,

and it's so easy for them to do, cos they make it that easy for 'em,

the laptop will be there, they'd have phones on the side,

they'll have money, probably, there, they're going to do it.

If they're clever they might try and stake it out for a little bit,

watch it, but they'll see it's been there so long and think "I'm going to do it."

They're not clever enough, cos I know someone who's been and got themselves done for it

and he's not a very clever person, I certainly wouldn't have done it.

It's been two years since Stiggy's seen the inside of a prison.

And he now says he's gone straight.

I don't do burglaries no more. I've sorted my life out.

I've got a nice girlfriend,

we live nicely and we don't need to do things like that.

I still get to wear nice clothes

and I don't need to rob to satisfy my needs no more.

Despite having a dozen or so capture houses in operation

there have been no capture house burglaries for over a month.

But tonight, that's about to change.

The spray's gone up here.

The next morning, Dave Bola visits the burgled capture house.

-Shall we have a quick look at this?

-Yeah.

So you can just see him actually grabbing hold of the laptop.

Got quite a good view of him.

And then he bobs down again there, there was a bag with some paperwork,

like a laptop carry case, he bends down and picks that up,

and then just looks back up towards where the spray is.

-He knows it's gone.

-It would suggest he knows,

-he's stopped there and had another look.

-Yeah.

And then he's away.

The footage is clear.

And when the laptop is lifted the SmartWater is activated,

but he is in and out in only ten seconds.

The SmartWater is everywhere, so the police are hopeful

the burglar may have traces of it on his skin and clothes.

But it's not immediately obvious to Dave who the burglar is.

I don't recognise him.

There's no names at the top of my head

that I'm thinking who it could be right now.

We'll take it back to a larger monitor.

And then there's three staff on from the burglary team on today

and we'll get them to view it as well.

Dave doesn't know who it is.

But it is possible another officer may be able to identify the burglar.

We know a picture in our area,

but a lot of burglars would travel sometimes,

because when they get to be so well known in their own areas

that they feel they can't walk half a mile up the street without getting stop-checked by a police officer

they tend to move around then, so then they'll move to the next division or the next area.

And that's when it becomes difficult for us.

The next step is uploading the footage from that capture house

directly onto our systems.

As a result of that all the police officers can view these images

from their BlackBerry phones that everybody has.

At the beginning of every shift they'll view this footage

to try and see if anyone can identify who the burglar is as well.

The next day, a variety of names have been suggested by officers

around the Force, but one person is identified twice.

We had a statement of identification from one of the officers

who works down at Central, they've identified him as Craig Foster.

Craig Foster is well known to the police,

but most of his offences are for shoplifting.

The capture house break, mate. We've had Foster's name put forward.

What do you think?

I feel comfortable that it is Foster,

so do you want to go and look for Craig Foster?

All right, kiddo. Cheers, mate. Ta-rah.

They're going to be looking for him.

# Happy days Happy days. #

A fucking burglary.

-Is Craig in?

-No, he doesn't live here. Never has.

Woah, woah. Don't shout at me.

KNOCKING ON DOOR

We just need to speak to Craig.

-You've not seen Craig for four months?

-No.

We have officers tasked to go and find our possible suspect for the capture house.

So they've been on the hunt all day,

and at 3:15 this afternoon they've nicked him.

Craig Foster is booked into the custody suite

and potential evidence is seized.

I mean predominantly it's going to be SmartWater should be on the sole.

When examined, Foster's trainers reveals suspicious luminous marks.

They could be SmartWater.

That keeps me happy and satisfied that the guy that's been nicked is the one.

Craig, come and take a seat.

What we're going to be doing here now is examining you for SmartWater.

Once they've done that we'll take you back downstairs.

I don't know nothing about it, I just want to get it dealt with.

OK.

Foster is scanned.

If he is the man in the capture house footage he's likely to have SmartWater particles on him.

OK. All done at this stage.

The CSI has found something of interest to them, which is a fluorescent substance.

What is he going to say in interview? I don't know.

From his reaction so far I don't think he anticipates there's any video footage in the room.

And to be honest with you,

I don't even think he realises what SmartWater is.

I'm being questioned here for summat I know I have not done.

-You're saying you've never been in 39 Douglas Road?

-No, never.

-Craig, we've got CCTV footage of you doing the burglary.

-You've got CCTV?

Well, let's see the footage then, cos I know I have not been in that premises.

You've been identified from that CCTV footage.

Well, let's see the CCTV footage then, yeah?

Let's have a look.

What, that's me? Is it fuck.

That is not me, mate. Look, look at the face.

Look, stop it there. That is not me, I'm telling you now, that is not me.

I admit, yeah, that person probably does look a little bit like me,

but that ain't me, I'm telling you.

Look! Look at the face, mate, that's not me.

You know it's not. I'm not a burglar, officer.

I do not do burglaries, yeah? Right?

If any crime that I commit,

I probably do a bit of shoplifting now and again, petty crime.

I don't burgle houses, me.

The interview with Foster, I think, went rather well.

He showed blatant denial, which we knew was going to happen.

We anticipated that in the interview anyway.

"I accept it looks like me."

Well, that's because, as far as I'm concerned, it is him.

So, I'm still happy that we've got the right man.

The only doubt that I will have is when SmartWater turn round and tell me it's not SmartWater,

that it's some other lubricating product!

Identifying the burglar from capture house footage

relies on police intelligence and local knowledge.

Is this Craig Foster?

They've just shown me some CCTV of a lad climbing through a window,

and it looks a bit like me, and they're saying the coppers have identified me.

Exactly, Mum. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, right.

You know as well as I do, I don't do that shit, do you know what I mean?

Foster is adamant it's not him and when the results come back from the lab,

the police are left with a dilemma.

Whatever the luminous marks were on Foster and his shoes,

they're not SmartWater.

We got hold of his footwear,

when they were tested in the lab they come back negative.

The swabs that we took from inside the ear, again,

they've come back negative for any particles of SmartWater.

The good thing is we've got two identification statements from two police officers.

We've gone to the CPS with the best evidence that we've got and they've been happy to charge.

-Craig, you've been charged. OK?

-I've been charged?

-Yeah.

You know for a fact I ain't on this burglary. You know for a fact, seriously.

You know for a fact, mate.

That's CCTV of someone, just, what has just got a resemblance of me.

Eight weeks later...

..Foster is cleared of all charges

relating to the capture house burglary.

It's an unknown for us.

It's the first time ever that we've arrested and prosecuted somebody

for breaking into a capture house and they've not been convicted.

It relies on human input to try and identify the offender that's on that footage,

and you can't always be 100% correct,

you've always got that margin of human error.

Foster has been found not guilty at court, it has been an identity that's been wrong,

but, ultimately, the real offender might still be out there.

I don't think anything can ever be foolproof,

but what I'm happy to say is that 99.9% of the time

these capture houses provide us with the evidence that we need

to prosecute the correct burglar that breaks into that room.

All over the country, incidents of burglary are rising.

There has been a 14% increase from last year.

But in Nottingham the figures are down.

Can you just tell us where everything was and then I'll look at that footage. Is that all right?

Controversy surrounds the capture house technique.

But in Nottingham,

it's become a key tactic in bringing down the burglary rates.

With the CCTV

there's always going to be a cop somewhere that recognises them.

They may think that that house is in darkness, that they've got the opportunity,

that there'll be a laptop in there, and we're saying take your chances

cos we'll catch you and you'll go to jail.

There's no doubt.

They'll always leave a trace, somehow.

Especially where there's a capture house!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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