I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief wa

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mistake of knocking off one of my plants, a delicate specimen I'd taken months to get going. And he was silly enough to put it in his window across the road. I got some snaps of him, the plant, and dug through my photos to find one of the same plant in it's original location to show it was mine. I took the lot down to the police station and handed it over. They couldn't believe it - and promptly drove straight around, knocked on the door and found an apartment full of stolen goods. He was wanted for assault, had tipped a pool table onto someone in a drunken fight, was already on probation. I had to go to court to give evidence and tell my story while this meathead stared at me. It was quite unnerving. But he went away to jail and I've since moved, so now it's just a story to be told. The detective told me he wished all cases could be that easy.