Lewisham borough use Flickr to find owners of stolen property

Although this is based in Lewisham they are getting results from everywhere so please have a look if it applies to you.

Officers in Lewisham use using photo sharing website flickr.com in an attempt to re-unite owners of stolen goods recovered by police. 

As a result of numerous proactive operations aimed at persons handling stolen goods within the borough of Lewisham, officers have recovered a number of suspected stolen items of jewellery.  

In order to restore the items back to their rightful owners the Burglary Squad in Lewisham borough have photographed all of the property and set up an album on the Metropolitan Police Flickr page in the hope that those owners will come forward to identify them.  

Officers are using every method they can to try and return the missing property, already sending letters out to victims of crime who have reported their jewellery stolen through a robbery or burglary.  

Flickr is another tool being utilised by Lewisham borough after police in Camden borough have so far had around 5000 people visit their album, with some people living as far away as Oxford, Liverpool and Lincoln viewing it.  

It is hoped that the Flickr album, or 'set', entitled "Gold jewellery recovered by Lewisham Burglary Squad" will allow the public to search through pictures of the stolen items to try to identify anything that might belong to them. 

The Flickr set went live yesterday, Thursday 27 July and contains over 50 images of stolen jewellery. Some of the jewellery is unique, with many items believed to be family heirlooms or items of sentimental value. Some of the items will be easily recognisable; for example one is a watch that on the back of it has Apollo 11 with an image of an eagle with 40th anniversary written at the bottom. 

Officers are appealing to anyone, who has had property of this type stolen prior to 4 July 2011 to visit the site and see if they recognize their property.

If you do believe any of the stolen jewellery could be yours, you are asked to contact PC Aaron Barr during office hours (8am - 4pm) on 0208 284 5040 or alternatively email Aaron.A.Barr@met.police.uk to arrange to come in and view the property at Lewisham Police Station.

Please note:

- You should only get in touch if your property was stolen prior to the 4 July 2011

- You may be asked for identification

- Proof of ownership

- And be required to make a statement

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Astbury, Serious Acquisitive Crime at Lewisham said: "We are utilising every tool available to us to identify as many victims as possible and return this jewellery back to their 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. Lewisham police are committed to ensuring Lewisham is a safe borough and will continue to investigate the crime committed against you at every opportunity and bring offenders to justice. "

You can view the jewellery here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolitanpolice/sets/72157627293743...