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Nativity figure causes police action: burglar or Christmas decoration?
A police operation in Erlangen-Höchstadt was triggered by a nativity scene figure that was mistaken for a burglar.
Nativity figure causes police action: burglar or Christmas decoration?
A strange police operation caused a stir in the Erlangen-Höchstadt district last Saturday morning. A woman noticed what appeared to be movement in her apartment via her surveillance camera, which she interpreted as a possible break-in and then immediately alerted the police. Officers were dispatched to the scene in several patrol cars to get to the bottom of the matter. The situation turned out to be completely different than initially assumed. Loud Augsburger Allgemeine The alleged person was a wooden figure of a shepherd from the woman's nativity scene.
The police operation was marked by a certain tension. The woman had quickly sent a screenshot from her surveillance camera to the police in the hope that help would be at hand. While the officers were on the way, she sent another photo of the “burglar.” Almost everyone was quickly surprised, because while the police and the dispatcher in the operations center searched intensively for fingerprints and signs of burglary, they realized that the figure that had ended up in the camera was just a harmless nativity scene figure. “The emergency services could not find any signs of a break-in and then had to calm everyone present,” explained an official. This was clarified when the woman remembered that she had recently moved the manger, which brought the shepherd into view of the camera.
Christmas confusion
The humorous anecdote from Höchstadt an der Aisch shows how technological tools can sometimes lead to unexpected misunderstandings. While surveillance cameras are playing an increasingly important role and contributing to security in many areas of life, they can also sometimes cause confusion. The police emphasized that it is always better to call 911 if you suspect too much, rather than ignoring a possible break-in or other dangerous situations like this BR24 reported.
Such twisted stories are not uncommon in the run-up to Christmas. Other strange missions were also mentioned, including an incident with a lost Christmas tree that caused a traffic accident in Donaueschingen, or a parcel delivery person in Lower Bavaria who was caught with several thousand euros in embezzled packages.
Technology and security
In the context of the current discussion about surveillance and security, it is interesting to know that the Federal Police has made significant progress in recent years through the use of modern video technology. This new technology has made it possible to solve three times as many crimes compared to 2019, with an increase of 300 percent predicted by the end of 2024. The Federal Police reported that in 2023 alone over 8,000 crimes were solved thanks to the new technical equipment. 143 train stations were equipped with video technology systems, which make a decisive contribution to improving public safety.
It remains to be noted that a misunderstanding like this can be appreciated, especially during the contemplative Advent season. This time the nativity scene not only played a decorative role, but also provided a little story that will certainly be remembered for a long time.