Two suspects were nabbed at a residential break-in on McTavish Road in North Saanich thanks to crime analysts from the Saanich and Victoria police departments.

The analysts had come up with a number of possible suspects in break-and-enters around the region, based on details about “mode of entry” into buildings, said Saanich police Sgt. Steve Eassie.

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Saanich police then began covert surveillance on one person of interest, a man who lived near a number of Saanich break-ins, Eassie said.

They were able to follow a vehicle to the home on McTavish Road, near East Saanich Road, where one officer got into position and was able to see what happened. He looked on as a suspect “shouldered” his way through the front door while a woman sat in a vehicle parked nearby.

She is believed to have been in contact with the man at the house via two-way radio, which Eassie said is sometimes seen when people involved in crime work in pairs or groups.

Eassie said the man might have been tipped off by the woman that someone could be watching him and did not venture much past the threshold of the home. He was arrested shortly after.

“They waited for the individual to walk back out onto the roadway and make attempts to move back toward the vehicle,” Eassie said.

The woman was also arrested.

Watching such a crime in action is unusual for police, he said.

“To actually physically witness somebody break into a home is not a very common occurrence.”

Eassie said officers watching the two people before the break-in kept at it when the pair ventured outside the municipality and ended up at McTavish Road.

‘‘The officers had them under surveillance from earlier in the day,” he said. “It just so happened that they moved outside of our jurisdiction.”

Shayne Russell O’Neill, 42, and 22-year-old Meghan Elizabeth Hinton were both charged with breaking and entering. O’Neill will be back in court this week and Hinton is to appear again next week.

O’Neill is in custody and Hinton has been released.

Eassie said the case is a good example of how the region’s police forces benefit from co-operation. He said co-operation was also a factor in another recent break-and-enter case where the Saanich street-crime unit was informed by the Nanaimo RCMP street-crime unit that a man known to them was moving to Greater Victoria.

Saanich officers teamed up with their Victoria counterparts to keep tabs on the man, Eassie said.

The man was subsequently arrested after a break-in at a home on Goward Road. An intruder got inside the home through an open window.

“Some of the property from the break-and-enter, including family-heirloom jewelry, was recovered and returned to the owners,” Eassie said.

“We are constantly, through our intelligence section, sharing information with other jurisdictions. This is just a great example of where this really works very well.”

Michael Alexander Duhamel, 47, was charged with breaking-and-entering, possession of stolen property and theft under $5,000.

He remains in custody and is scheduled for another court appearance this week.

jwbell@timescolonist.com