Catch a thief sitting at home and win $1,000

Breaking news! LONDON: Anyone who owns a laptop computer can now fight crime from the safety of their home and win cash prizes for catching thieves red-handed , under a new British monitoring scheme that went live this week.

The service works by employing an army of registered armchair snoopers who watch hours of CCTV footage from cameras in stores and high street venues across the country.

Viewers can win up to $1,600 in cash a month from Devonbased firm Internet Eyes, which distributes the streaming footage , when offenders are caught in the act.

The scheme immediately drew criticism from civil liberties campaigners who say it is more evidence that Britain has become a " Big Brother" surveillance society with CCTV camreas on every corner.

Participants, who pay a fee to subscribe, press an "alert" button which relays a text message notifying a shop keeper of suspicious behaviour. The SMS is followed up with a photograph of the potential crime.
source: agency