Officers use Flickr to find owners of stolen property

Victims of jewellery theft in the Lewisham area will now be able to search an online database of police photographs of stolen goods to identify their property.

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers came up with the idea following the recovery of a large amount of suspected stolen jewellery during a series of operations targeting people handling stolen goods in the borough.

Officers have uploaded photographs of the jewellery onto the image-sharing website, Flickr, allowing victims to view the photographs and identify any items they believe may be theirs.

The Flickr page, ‘Gold jewellery recovered by Lewisham Burglary Squad’, went live at the end of last month and contains more than 50 images of stolen jewellery.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Astbury, from the Serious Acquisitive Crime squad at Lewisham, said: “We are utilising every tool available to us to identify as many victims as possible and return this jewellery back to its rightful owners. Using Flickr works and this has already proved be the case in Camden.

“We hope that by making use of this technology, people will look through the images and recognise their property.”

Officers have already sent out letters to victims of crime who have reported their jewellery stolen through a robbery or burglary.

Some of the jewellery is unique, with many items believed to be family heirlooms or items of sentimental value.

Police in the Camden borough have so far had around 5,000 people visit their page, with some of those viewing it living as far away as Oxford, Liverpool and Lincoln.

Cash Converters, which has 197 shops across London, is also working with the MPS to share information about gold and suspicious goods brought to its stores.

Posters will be clearly displayed in all Cash Converters stores in London, informing people that their data may be shared with the police to prevent crime. This follows an increase in jewellery thefts as the price of gold doubled.

The MPS is particularly urging Asian women to be vigilant following a spate of snatch thefts and robberies of gold jewellery.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said: “The MPS takes street robbery very seriously and we are determined to crack down on this type of crime which is extremely traumatic for the victim. This agreement provides us with an excellent opportunity to do so, particularly in relation to robbery and burglary.”

Almost 6,000 people have been arrested during 12,089 operations since a campaign to tackle crime against people and property was launched in June. Operation Target aims to achieve significant, long-term reductions in robbery, burglary and violent crime.

David Patrick, chief executive of Cash Converters, said: “This is a great step forward and we are proud to be the first retailer to commit to this protocol and work with the police to reduce crime. We do not want stolen goods in our stores.

“All our stores operate a strictly-enforced identification policy requiring customers to provide adequate and up-to-date identification. Our stores also log serial numbers to alert staff of any potentially suspicious items so we can alert police.”