In the long and noble history of the world's most incompetent criminals, we have an impressive new entry – a burglar who decided that the ideal shop to break into would be… a security camera store.
Police in Boise, Idaho made one of the easier arrests they'll ever make, after 21-year-old Allen Michael Darnell's every move was filmed by over a dozen demonstration CCTV cameras in the Computer Central store.
The footage show him smashing the glass front door, then walking around the shop trying to steal computers. Unfortunately for him, they were bolted down.
He appears to have noticed the fact that the store was filled with security cameras, because after a short time he pulls his coat up over his head. This devious criminal masterstroke was slightly undercut, however, by the fact that he also kept going up to the cameras and staring straight into them.
Having spent some time failing to steal any computers and staring into surveillance cameras, Darnell decided to make off with around $250 from the cash register. The next part of his plan – hide in some nearby bushes until the police arrived – was then executed flawlessly.
He was arrested after a short chase, when police saw him hiding in the bushes.
The store had only started selling security cameras a few months previously. 'We have infrared cameras, we have all weather cameras that were picking up what was going on, high definition cameras, that kind of thing,' store Sales Manager Kelly Johnson told TV station Fox 12.
Boise Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower was grateful to the store for having the security cameras, and to the thief for looking into them. 'Let's just say that it helped make the arrest a little easier,' she noted.
