A conveniently placed trail camera has captured images of a truck believed responsible for a stolen travel trailer near Horne Lake over the weekend. (Dreamstime)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

stolen trailer

Bush camera helps Oceanside RCMP quickly find stolen travel trailer

Feb 8, 2024 | 4:10 PM

PARKSVILLE — A game-style trail camera mounted west of Qualicum Beach helped police hunt down a stolen travel trailer.

Oceanside RCMP reported the camera helped find the item in Nanaimo on Tuesday, Feb 6 after the unit had been reported stolen three days earlier.

The vehicle was spotted on camera leaving the Horne Lake area.

“The game camera image we had was an image of the truck,” Sgt. Shane Worth told NanaimoNewsNOW. “We were able to narrow it down very quickly based on the time of day what vehicles had come and gone from that area and that this was likely our suspect vehicle.”

Images of the suspect’s vehicle were quickly shared with other Vancouver Island police detachments, with an officer in Nanaimo able to make the connection to a vehicle seen in the city’s south end.

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Police seized the trailer and returned it to its rightful owner, while an unidentified individual is facing potential charges.

Investigators are continuing to build their case and no charges have been laid to date.

Worth said while game cameras are typically designed and marketed for hunters, their use is changing among the wider population.

“People have caught onto this and have bought them for security purposes because they’re relatively cheap and they don’t use a lot of memory because they’re motion triggered. They’re not continuously recording, they’re able to retain their memory and they’re remote so you can put them anywhere.”

He added the images provided from quality camera footage can be extremely valuable to investigators.

“Some video surveillance has proven to be very helpful and a great asset in this investigation and a lot of others we are conducting.”

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