Famous Five or Solo Spy?

This post is being written at Emmanuel's insistence.
Yesterday,he went out to play and came back a few minutes later to let me know that there was a guy stomping down on a cardboard box and stuffing it into our neighbour's recycling bin-we have trash pickup today.
I frankly did not know what to make of it.I think 12 year olds looking for adventure can find it in the ordinary,but the stomping got my attention.However,the "almost adult" refused to take my advice and stay home,and went off into the wilderness(for which,I got an earful from his Dad).I kept an eye out for him and after a while,we had errands to run and he was compelled to accompany me.
We came back home an hour later to find the place crawling with police cars,and cops knocking on doors and checking out backyards.
We walked in,locked the doors and waited for someone to knock on our door so he could share the information he had(he described the guy and his attire in detail to me),but alas no one did.
Later in the evening,we knocked on the door of the cop who lives near us and gave him the info and also found out that this guy walks around neighbourhoods and steals packages left on doorsteps.
While I heaved a sigh of relief,my son was disappointed that the vital clue that he gave-that the guy had stomped on a cardboard box and stuffed it into a recycling bin(smart thief,at that!!)-was overlooked.He was sure that they could have caught the guy with that information(DNA?).
Last evening and today in the morning he has been walking around hoping this news would make it to the local TV channels!!
I think America has come a long way from leaving your doors unlocked to having packages stolen from your doorstep!