Did you hear the story about these three young flatmates who hunted down their own burglars, busted them and took back their stuff? 

Sarah, Anna and Charlotte... all in their 20s... got home from work in Christchurch, and some mug, or mugs, had broken in and stolen their stuff. 

Rooms were ransacked. Stolen items? Cameras, laptops, jewellery. Also missing? Clothes, undies and frozen curry from the freezer. 

Not the butter chicken! 

But there was one thing they needed back urgently - and sparked amateur detectives into action. 

A stolen passport. One of them needed to travel overseas. 

So, they asked the neighbours - what police would call in a press release 'canvassing the area'. 

The neighbours told them which way the robbers went. 

What police would call 'positive lines of inquiry'. 

They followed the leads, or 'made a breakthrough' in the case. 

Found the house the alleged thieves had returned to. 

Opened the door, caught the culprits red-handed, wearing their stuff, some guy was staring at their undies. 

And they quietly and calmly took back what was theirs. 

Great stuff. 

The problem is, the police were called, attended the scene, and according to the girls, "they told the police where to go after getting a clue from their neighbours, but they didn’t go there".

Why are these women having to do the cops' job for them? They were told to file an online report. The thieves were just down the road. 

About 90% of burglaries go unresolved,

The Herald reported in 2024 just 6.4% - 11,738 - of the burglaries reported over the last four years resulted in an offender being prosecuted.

No wonder people are taking the law into their own hands.