Thieves have been caught in the act on security camera before — but rarely does the camera capture its own theft.
That’s exactly what Langley resident Alexa Hodgins watched on her playback Wednesday morning, after realizing two of her home cameras had been stolen overnight.
The series of videos show a hooded man approach Hodgins’ front porch and walk right up to one of the cameras.
A hand then appears and takes over most of the frame, as the thief takes the camera off the wall and puts it into his pocket.
After the man is shown jumping up and ripping another camera off the home, he’s then seen running away, his pockets lit up by the cameras.
Hodgins said it was her one-year-old son who pointed out the cameras were gone while the family was leaving for daycare the next morning.
“He said, ‘camera gone,'” Hodgins said. “Once we looked at our app, we saw that we had actually captured the theft.”
The family’s doorbell camera also caught the entire caper from start to finish, making for a humourous viewing experience.
“It is rather funny that the cameras we got installed to stop theft was actually how the theft happened,” she said.
Hodgins said the family is now out roughly $500 thanks to the missing cameras, and is warning other homeowners to better secure their own security systems.
She could not describe the suspect as he was fully covered in clothing, with his face obscured.
Langley RCMP Cpl. Holly Largy says police are investigating, and have received two other reports of camera thefts this week alone.
Police do not yet believe the thefts are linked.