A man who allegedly burgled a building site in broad daylight was spotted by a member of the public and caught by police.
Police are applauding the good work of both the person who reported the incident and members of the public who kept track of the offender's vehicle, posting sightings in a Facebook community group.
A 39-year-old man from the Waimakariri area was charged with the burglary, which took place about 3pm Tuesday at West Melton's Ridgeland Way. He was apprehended at Kirwee.
Senior Sergeant Dean Harker said a vehicle with two male occupants was seen towing a car transporter/trailer, and entering the residential building site, where items were then stolen.
"Someone who had seen it acting suspiciously rang us," Harker said.
"They thought it didn't look right, they had good information and details, descriptions and everything. We managed to get staff into the area quite quickly and caught up with it."
He said the quick reporting by the member of the public represented good community work, in partnership with police. He also applauded members of the West Melton Community Page, who commented on a post, which said police had been informed.
The post included a description of the vehicle, as a silver Toyota people mover.
Commenters were then able to provide updates to fellow members about where they spotted the vehicle.
Harker said, in general, this type of information sharing, on where offenders were at any one time, could help keep communities safe. And, while it had not been the case this time round, it could even sometimes help police apprehend offenders.
The burglary at West Melton follows other similar burglaries in the area. Overnight on August 11 about $10,000 of windows and other materials were stolen from a lifestyle property building site in a subdivision at West Melton.
In July, about $8500 of materials were stolen from two neighbouring homes under construction at the Wilfield subdivision at West Melton.
The threat of thefts from building sites has increased in recent weeks as the price of building materials has skyrocketed.
