Two Raleigh men were recently arrested for breaking and entering into a house in the Caraleigh neighborhood several weeks ago. One of the men has a criminal history of felony breaking and entering. A third man was reportedly at the house as well but has not been arrested at this point. It is possible that the men would not have been identified if the home they broke into did not have security cameras installed.
The security cameras perfectly captured the images of three men breaking into the home through a back door. The cameras show the men searching the home and looking through drawers and cabinets to find things to steal.
After searching one room for several minutes, one of the men noticed the security camera and attempted to take it down and destroy the camera’s evidence. However, their attempt was not successful. Instead, the video has been watched millions of times on YouTube.
While some break-ins may go unsolved, video records of a person breaking into a home and looking through the homeowners’ possessions is fairly clear evidence of breaking and entering.
The situation which these men found themselves in demonstrates one way that technology influences the process of searching for, identifying, and arresting alleged criminals. Clear videos of a person performing an illegal act are pretty incriminating.
On the other hand, video evidence could also be used to prove a wrongful arrest. For instance, if another person had been wrongfully arrested before the video was found and seen by authorities, the video could prove that the arrest was wrongful.
Source: News & Observer, “Police make second arrest in Raleigh break-in shown on YouTube,” Jan. 7, 2013