Episode 3 Caught Red Handed

Thieves will steal our cars, our valuables,

just about anything they can get their hands on.

To cut down on crime and antisocial behaviour,

the police and other agencies are using new tactics and technology

where the bad guys are getting caught in the act.

The CCTV was vital.

You can see they are definitely the people there.

The camera doesn't lie.

Local councils, shops and businesses are laying some traps of their own...

There's a eureka moment when you get that evidence.

..and the general public, too,

can help unsuspecting crooks get their comeuppance.

People won't stand by.

I couldn't sit back and do nothing.

Yes! We've got her!

So, anyone who's up to no good had better think twice.

They might just get caught red-handed.

Today - a dangerous moment for a lone policeman

who comes face to face with a gang in a car park.

There were five adult males in there and if they turn

and they think they're going to control me,

then there's every possibility I'm going to get hurt.

But he has police dog, Roddy, at his side.

BARKING

Also today - an armed robber bursts into Sam's shop.

All I could see is his eyes and this knife.

It was a proper large knife.

But the man's eyes and the knife aren't all that Sam sees.

His centre knuckle, it's raised. That's not normal.

And a Christmas story and a winter wonderland created for charity.

But this is a crime story.

How the Grinches Tried to Steal Christmas.

In a dark backstreet in Northampton, PC Ian McDonald,

along with his police dog, Roddy,

is tracking a group of motorcycle thieves.

What happens next is captured on Ian's body camera.

Police! Stop! Stay there!

This is the moment Ian corners the thieves who are hiding in a car park.

I'm quite heavily outnumbered by them

and they've got an awful lot to lose if I catch them.

But now, he realises it's just him and Roddy

standing between them and the only exit.

There are five adult males in there. If they think they can control me,

there's every possibility I'm going to get hurt.

BARKING

Based in Northamptonshire,

PC Ian McDonald has been a police dog handler for nearly ten years.

The dog section was the department I decided would be right for me.

It's a fantastic job. You get to go to all the great jobs.

And I enjoy dogs, as well.

This is Ian's police partner, Roddy.

He's a seven-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd.

I've had him for just over five years.

You have to have a bond with a dog, so it is a selection process.

I met with Roddy and we got on well. He's lovely.

He's a really friendly German shepherd.

He's probably the friendliest in our force and, no, he's not aggressive.

He'll be smiling quite happily when he bites you.

But man's best friend can be a crook's worst enemy.

Roddy's main role is to sniff out trouble and those who cause it.

In a specific environment where there's offenders we need to detain,

Roddy will look quite intimidating,

sound quite intimidating and will do a job.

BARKING

Stand still! It's your last chance! Hold him!

If he's sent, he will go and engage

and will bite somebody and will cause damage.

But it's not because he's aggressive,

it's because it's what he's trained to do.

As well as always having Roddy at his side,

Ian also wears a body camera when he's on duty.

They're fantastic. They gather key evidence of an incident unfolding.

The camera doesn't lie.

The camera's an accurate portrayal of exactly what's happened.

Ian's camera and Roddy are both about to be tested.

There's been a spate of motorbike thefts

in the Abington area of Northampton.

Bike owners such as Adam are on their guard.

I bought a bike about one year ago from my friend from London.

It's a bike for travel, not for speed.

Just want to see some nature because I love it.

As his only form of transport, Adam needs his bike to get to work.

It's really, really important for me to get anywhere.

But in the early hours of a July morning,

as Adam's asleep in his flat,

one of the other residents makes a call to the police.

She's seen five men pushing a large motorbike up the road.

She suspects they've stolen it.

Working a night shift, Ian and Roddy are on duty nearby.

His body cam running, Ian arrives at the flats.

He talks to the witness.

Hello. Which way did they go?

But while going to get her phone to call the police,

the witness lost sight of the men.

She didn't have any direction of travel for them,

but what she was able to do was pinpoint the spot she'd seen them.

So then I can ask my dog the question

about looking for a scent, looking for a track.

Ian takes Roddy around the back of the block, where the suspects

had last been seen and tells him to track their scent.

And then he's off and he's really pulling hard on my lead.

His nose is down on the ground and his shoulders are into it

and I know that he's tracking, without any doubt in my mind.

And Ian's confident Roddy's on the right track.

These five persons at the scene with this bike,

their adrenaline's flowing, they've got different endorphins

coming off their body and the dog's picking up on all of those.

All those smells that we can't smell.

They've only just begun following the trail

when Roddy suddenly stops at the doors of a dustbin storeroom.

I kind of thought when he went around the corner, up to the doors,

"What are you doing, Roddy?"

And then looking through, just thinking,

"Oh, my God, you're on the money. You're exactly right."

Ian peers through the shutters at the top of the doors.

I can see the five of them in there and I can see a motorbike.

So I know without any doubt at that point that he's delivered.

He updates other officers who are on their way.

Come around, they're all in the building.

The suspects have locked the door of the dustbin store.

It's clear to me that the people have heard me

because there's a lot of fast movement inside.

I can hear them breaking around.

I've then got a decision to make, whether I wait for backup to arrive

to assist me, or whether I go in and try and apprehend the offenders.

Fearing they might escape, Ian pulls hard at the doors

and forces them open.

He sees the stolen bike.

It's been abandoned.

There's another door in the room.

The suspects have fled through it into a secure locked car park.

They're hiding in the dark. Ian shouts a warning.

Police dog! Stand still!

Stay there, or I'll release the dog!

Ian has to command attention.

I'm very loud, very aggressive and very dominant.

I know there's five adult males in there

and if they turn and think they're going to control me,

then there's every possibility I'm going to get hurt,

or, indeed, some of them are going to get away from me.

Ian and Roddy are alone in the dark with five men.

And he has no idea if they have weapons.

Stay there! Come to me now!

He spots one of the suspects moving.

Walk to me now!

Walk to me now, or I'll send the dog! It's your last chance!

Right, you, lie down there now on the ground,

or I'll send the dog to you!

'It's control. I want to prevent him from running away

'and prevent him from being able to get to me very quickly.'

Ian knows the other four are still in there

with just him and Roddy standing in front of the only exit.

I'm outnumbered by them and they've got an awful lot to lose if I catch them.

Ian spots another man moving behind a car.

You, come out from behind that car now!

BARKING

Get on the ground!

Roddy's barking also helps to control the situation.

'Having Roddy in front of me

'is a big deterrent to stop people coming towards me.

'The lads didn't want to be bitten by the dog.'

Turn left, keep your car door in.

Ian tries to guide other officers to him.

He needs reinforcements as more of the suspects emerge.

You behind the car! Come out now!

You, get on the ground there now!

-BARKING

-Get on the ground!

Three in custody, I've got two outstanding.

Two are still hiding.

So Ian's glad when backup arrives.

'This is a great relief to me because I know

'they can take control of the people we've already found.'

His fellow officers track down the fourth man.

Yeah. That person needs detaining, as well.

We've got four, there's one outstanding

and I'm sure he'll be under a car in here somewhere.

I'm just searching with the dog now.

-Ian and Roddy scour the car park for the final culprit.

-Stand by.

He'll be in this car park somewhere. He's trapped in here somewhere.

Out you come, mate!

All five in custody.

While the men are led away,

Ian records on his body cam evidence of where the bike's been found.

This is the motorbike that I saw in the yard.

You can see there's a wrench down by the side of it, which I shall seize.

And I understand this lock was with one of the occupants

that have been detained.

The side cowling is down off the bike.

I saw them crouching down, messing around on that area.

Meanwhile, the bike's owner, Adam,

has been woken up by all the commotion.

He hears that a motorbike's been stolen, so he goes to check his bike.

And I just walked down, seen on the street, argh! It was my bike.

HE LAUGHS

That was a really awful feeling because your precious...

It's gone!

But then some friends call out to Adam.

They've spotted that his bike is with the police in the dustbin store.

"Adam! Adam!" I said, "What?"

"Your bike is here." I was, like, "What?! How come?"

It was really a relief for me when I saw it.

Thank you very much for the police.

Charged and convicted of attempted theft,

the five men received varying punishments,

with one getting 18 weeks in jail.

The case acts as a deterrent

and motorbike theft has now dropped in the area.

It was a good night's work for Ian and Roddy.

This job in its entirety was really good for Roddy.

All in all, he's worked really well.

He got some extra biscuits when he got home.

I was very pleased that he'd done all that was asked of him.

Thanks to Ian and Roddy, Adam got his stolen motorbike back,

but many victims aren't so lucky.

How can we deter thieves from taking our vehicles in the first place?

Anything extra that you can do, other than just locking the car,

is going to prove as a deterrent.

So if you can fit an immobiliser or a steering wheel lock,

then it's always better to try and do that little bit more.

There's also sort of data-tracking systems which, again,

not only help protect your vehicle,

but will keep your insurance premiums down.

These days, vehicles are rarely hot-wired.

What the offender will try and do is steal the car keys

in order to make it easier to steal the car.

So it's essential that we really look after those car keys

and put them somewhere that someone can't get to them easily.

Take photographs of your pride and joy, no doubt,

so that you cab help track and trace your vehicle if it is stolen.

Because there'll be uniqueness to it that the thieves won't be aware of.

If we can identify it for you from a scratch, or a sticker,

or a slightly different panel that's been changed at some point

whilst you've had it, then that's going to make it easier

to not only bring the offender to justice,

but to get the car back to you in one piece.

Now, Christmas is supposed to be a time of giving.

But some people don't see it that way.

Like Santa's little help-yourself-ers.

The couple who live at this house in Redcar, Teesside,

do a large Christmas display every year

in order to raise money for charity.

This year, it's for the RNLI.

But one morning, they find hundreds of pounds' worth of decorations

have gone overnight.

They check the footage from their garden security camera

and see a crime even Scrooge might have thought too mean.

'Twas some nights before Christmas and in front of the house,

nothing was stirring, except for this small car cruising past.

A reconnaissance, perhaps?

Minutes later, these two men appear.

One cuts a wire...

..and takes a plastic Santa.

Adding it to the items they are stocking up on the drive.

The camera stops recording,

but when the picture came back, the pair had gone.

The couple hand the footage over to the police,

but the elves who helped themselves remain at large.

Bah humbug!

It isn't all bad news, though.

Upset by the incident, locals send the couple

more decorations and donations.

In the end, they raise over £1,200 for Redcar RNLI.

'Tis the season to be merry once again.

Coming up -

Another heartless act. At a food bank!

This man's been given free meals,

but then he does something that's hard to swallow.

Oh, good grief! He's just put the charity box in his pocket.

It makes me bubble inside.

The charity team can't believe someone's prepared to bite

the hand that feeds him.

Most of us make pretty good use of our local shop.

Quite often, they are at the heart of neighbourhood life.

So we'd be pretty annoyed if they came under attack.

Bury in Greater Manchester.

An armed man tries to steal from Sam, a popular local shopkeeper.

All I could see is his eyes

and a rucksack and this knife!

It was a proper large knife.

But this robber's picked the wrong shop and the wrong shop-owner.

It's just not fair that somebody should just walk into the shop

and just take what you've sort of earned.

Sam's not going to give in.

I realised that I have to do something about it.

The masked man escapes.

But locals rally round to try and uncover the man behind the mask.

In the Topping Fold area of Bury,

Sam Patel and his wife, Bharti, run the local convenience store.

They bought the shop over 20 years ago.

This is our livelihood, basically.

This is my second home.

The shop and Sam are firmly established

at the heart of local life.

They actually call this shop, "Sam's Shop",

not, another corner shop. It's Sam's Shop.

Even the little kids come in and say, "I'm going to Sam's".

The kids have grown up with me.

I've seen them from being born to leaving school

and getting a job and this, that and the other.

-Hiya, Josh.

-Hiya, Sam.

Josh is a regular customer.

I come in here every day, seven days a week.

I stand in this shop, I can stand in here for an hour talking with him.

Football and...

Everyone around here gets on with him. Everyone knows him really well.

He's a pillar of the community. He'll help anyone.

He'll do anything for anyone.

Local people obviously care for Sam,

and he tries to take care of them.

I believe that if you're a nice person,

then you'll be treated nicely.

I mean, sometimes, if I'm struggling for gas and electric,

with me living over the road, if I need it and I know I'm struggling,

he'll do it me till a couple of days later, and stuff like that.

He'll help you out in any way he can.

Like most shopkeepers, Sam has an alarm and CCTV system for security.

But crime has never been a problem.

Until one Sunday morning that Sam will never forget.

He's alone in the store in a back room

when he hears the shop door buzzer.

BLEEP!

He doesn't know it yet, but he has a sinister intruder.

A masked man with a large carving knife.

Moving towards the counter, he waits for Sam to come back into the shop.

Then threatens him.

It's a terrifying moment.

All I could see is his eyes

and a rucksack and this knife!

It wasn't a penknife or anything like that,

it was a proper large knife.

I-I didn't understand what was happening.

I was expecting a customer, not a masked person.

And my head must have told me, saying,

"That's a knife. Do something about it."

The robber demands money,

but Sam bravely refuses to hand over any cash.

It's just not fair that somebody should just walk into the shop

and just take what you've...what you've sort of earned.

He pushes a panic button hidden behind the counter.

RAPID BEEPING

With the alarm sounding loudly,

the would-be robber panics and runs out of the shop.

Sam decides to follow him out.

He sort of turned right and just headed in that direction.

I didn't run after him.

I just wanted to see which way he was going.

Sam comes back to his shop.

The anger and distress on his face is plain to see.

The shock of it didn't sort of come into it until after he had run away.

The police arrive. They've been automatically alerted by the alarm.

Sam phones his wife to say what's happened.

She said, "Oh, my God! Right, OK. I'm on my way."

It was scary for her.

Customers and friends are also stunned when they hear the news.

When I first found out, I was really, really shocked.

You've got people like Sam trying to earn a decent living

and you've got people like that who just try and come in and take it

without any thought whatsoever

of how it's going to affect him, how it's going to affect his family.

You don't need that. You don't need to be coming to work

feeling like you're going to be targeted.

Who would do such a thing to Sam?

The hunt is on for any tell-tale signs

as to the identity of the would-be robber.

Sam and the police view the recorded CCTV footage.

It reveals a clue.

He's showing me his knife and his rucksack.

And he's basically saying to me, "Fill it up with money".

When he does, you can see that his centre knuckle

is actually quite pronounced.

It looks as if he's been in a fight the night before,

or he's hit a wall, or something.

It's raised. That's not normal.

An image of the robber and his swollen knuckle

is circulated by friends on the neighbourhood grapevine.

It doesn't take long before the identity of the culprit

is discovered.

And it comes as a shock.

The would-be knife robber is a 17-year-old youth who lives locally.

And he's actually been boasting about the incident

to other youths on the estate, including Josh.

A lad come over to me, bragging about what had actually happened.

And I'd sort of said to him,

"Well, I'll take you over to the shop now,

"while you've not got your mask on."

That doesn't happen, but it doesn't need to.

Because several other neighbours have come forward

to reveal the would-be robber's identity.

The incident happened on a Sunday morning.

By Monday lunchtime, I knew his name and I knew everything about him.

He has been in the shop a few times

and it was strange that he's used the shop

and then he's tried to sort of do the shop.

You know, it was weird.

I think it's disgusting, to be honest.

Sam passes on the information to the police

and the youth is taken into custody.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, he admits to the crime.

In court, he is given a six-month referral order,

told to pay compensation

and is also given a restraining order to stay away from Sam's shop.

He didn't get jailed, but he got caught.

That's the main thing.

It's business as usual back at the store.

I've not heard of anything of him since, you know.

And, um...I'm just hoping that he's learnt his lesson that nowadays,

you've got to work hard to get your money,

not, you know, er...try and rob somebody.

The youth now has a chance to turn over a new leaf.

And, despite Sam's experience, he's come out feeling positive

because of the way he was supported by the locals.

The help from the community was absolutely fantastic.

I think without the community's information,

I don't think we would've been able to catch this person.

It shows that there's a lot of people who do care about us.

-Thanks, buddy.

-Thank you. See you, Sam.

-See you later.

Charity shops rely on goodwill to survive,

so the last person in the world you'd expect to damage one of them

would be somebody who was receiving their help.

A charity cafe in Hartlepool,

where, once a week, Food Bank donations

are distributed to families in need.

We provided their food parcels,

we gave them a cup of tea and biscuits.

But this morning, one of the men collects more than his food parcel.

He steals one of the charity's collection boxes.

Oh, good grief! He's just put the charity box in his pocket.

We rely on donations. It makes me bubble inside.

It was the lowest form of theft.

But a security camera means the cafe is able to dish out

some justice of their own.

-Val?

-Yep?

-I'm just going through the rota. Who's covering...?

The charity, called Hartlepool Families First,

has been running for over 25 years.

Paul Thompson is the manager.

It's a charity that was set up to support children

with disabilities and profound learning difficulties

so that their families can enjoy a bit of respite,

but also so that those children can take part in activities

that any other child across this country could get involved in.

The charity grew and their help now reaches thousands of local people.

They opened this cafe three years ago. It's run by Val.

Most of the people that we rely on in the kitchen

are volunteers, trainees, apprentices.

As well as raising money for the charity,

the cafe also provides training and work experience

for young people in the area.

Carole volunteers in the kitchen.

Some of them have never been in a kitchen before,

so they haven't got a clue.

So we, like, train them and teach them how we do things here.

We've had something like 120 people that have went on to use

those skills and that experience

into getting further employment in the town.

Every penny counts, so they put out a collection box to help raise money.

Most people, they'll say, "Keep the change.

"Put the change in the charity box."

Some of the ladies go around and rattle their tin amongst friends.

Donations are something that we just couldn't operate without.

It goes to help towards toys and outings and things for the children.

The box is kept on the counter.

It's not chained in place.

After all, no-one would steal from a charity, would they?

We want this to be a warm, welcoming environment

where people aren't under suspicion.

There's a CCTV security system installed when the cafe opened.

But there's never been any suggestion of crime here.

Until...one Tuesday.

Val notices that something's amiss.

I got a call from the office to collect the charity tins, as we do

on a monthly basis, and that's when I realised it wasn't there any more.

The box had been checked the previous week and it was almost full.

We estimate there was about £70-£80.

We actually initially suspected that we were going to find

that a member of staff had moved it and put it somewhere safe.

Paul checks the CCTV.

He rewinds back to Saturday morning,

when there's a special session in the cafe.

This Saturday, Val was on shift in the kitchen.

Saturday mornings, a local church group take over the building

for an hour to distribute a food bank to the needy of Hartlepool.

One of the individuals brought his cups back to the counter,

as if he was helping to clear up.

And he helps himself to one of our charity wristbands.

The man's put the band on his wrist, so now, he should make a donation.

But no, he craftily nudges the collection box to see if it's full.

A quick check over his shoulder... and it's gone.

Oh, good grief! He's just put the charity box in his pocket.

Now he's made a mess all over the counter.

He even asks Val to clear up his spilled coffee.

He points out to me that he's spilled something. I go out and...

That's me going off for a cloth.

The thief come back to his seat,

where he was originally sitting, picks up a carrier bag,

and this is the same carrier bag that had his food parcel in,

to which he slips the charity can into the inside

and he's gone out the door.

The team are flabbergasted.

It's absolutely unbelievable.

You just wouldn't believe people would do things like that.

Come in for free food and then they go and do that, as well.

To us, it was the lowest form of theft.

It was, you know, there is no excuse to do that sort of thing.

We rely on donations. It still makes me bubble inside.

I just think, "How dare you?"

But with the camera's recording, they have a picture of his face.

And they call the police.

The way the police reacted was fantastic.

They came within a couple of hours.

PCSOs arrive and view the footage.

The second that one of the PCSOs clocks eyes on the culprit,

he knew exactly who it was.

They arrest the thief the following morning.

By the afternoon, they had him in front of the magistrates,

where he immediately pleaded guilty.

In a little over 24 hours of reporting the crime,

we were aware of the outcome.

The man is sentenced to eight weeks in prison,

suspended for six months

and is ordered to pay costs and compensation.

The uncharitable act of a thief

is soon made up for by the charity of the people of Hartlepool,

with many generous donations.

We're probably at break even now

with the money that we've lost because of the generosity.

And that typifies the response in Hartlepool.

And the charity can get on with its good work.

Hopefully, everything's going to be all right from now on.

It's been going for 25 years and hopefully,

it'll continue for another 25 or longer.

That's it for today. Join us next time,

when police and the public catch more criminals red-handed.