Editorial: Be sure to mark items

Photo / Ben Fraser

It's heartbreaking to read stories about local people whose stolen items are turning up for sale on Facebook.

One woman lost thousands of personal photos when her portable hard drive was taken in the burglary of a friend's house.

How grating it must be to then see your prized possessions turn up for sale on Facebook.

The woman believed a hard drive being offered for sale on the social media site was hers, but as it had no identifying marks and she didn't know the serial number police couldn't help, she said.

Police can only do so much with limited information (otherwise we'd be living in a police state) - that's why it's so important to record serial numbers and unique identifying features and photograph your electronic items.

While police can't catch every burglar and recover every stolen item, criminals are making the police's job that little bit easier by using Facebook.

Rotorua police area commander Inspector Bruce Horne says police get a lot of leads from social media, whether through their monitoring of sites or public tip-offs.

In a recent case, three people were arrested and stolen property was recovered within 24 hours of a burglary after the goods were offered for sale on social media.

By selling stolen goods on such a widely seen platform as Facebook, thieves are getting more brazen, but also dumber.