Police in Norwich, Connecticut, say that a bank robbery suspect was arrested after leaving a trail of clues on the Internet, including an online search for “how not to rob a bank.”

The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Kevin Fitzpatrick, appeared in court on March 29 on charges of robbery and larceny for a September 28, 2005, robbery. He was being held on unrelated charges in New York when he was arrested.

According to police, Fitzpatrick was staying with a woman at the time of the robbery in Norwich and spent a lot of time on her computer. They had met on the Internet and had never met in person when he asked to stay for several days, borrowing her car on the day of the robbery and returning with a lot of cash, claiming that he won it at the Mohegan Sun casino.

They also allege that Fitzpatrick walked into Liberty Bank branch and handed a teller a note demanding money. A week later, a tip led police to the friend, who said she recognized Fitzpatrick from a surveillance photo posted on a newspaper website.

Police said that when the friend checked the log of her computer, she saw that a search had been conducted for “Norwich bank robbery.”

A police search of the computer yielded countless searches pertaining to bank robberies.

“Most times when citizens get involved, relaying honest and accurate information about what they see, it’s a benefit to the investigation,” police Captain Timothy Menard said.

Police in Canton, Ohio, suspected that one of four men who stand accused of robbing a jewelry store there swallowed a two-carat diamond ring worth $30,000. They turned out to be right.

The ring was found in the toilet of the suspect’s jail cell.

Police alerted the sheriff’s office to the likelihood that the suspect had swallowed the ring. So after he, uh, shall we say, relieved himself, the county sanitary engineer was called in and sucked the ring out of the toilet.

So, in case you are reading this and wondering how the cops were so sure that the ring was from the jewelry store, according to the sheriff’s office, it still had the store’s price tag on it.

A woman from Russia who attempted to smuggle nine rare parrots into the country was arrested after a customs agent noticed her coat moving.

The woman, identified as 35-year-old Denisa Mrazova, was stopped as she arrived in Blagoveshchensk on a flight from China.

She had taped their beaks shut to keep them quiet, but those parrots still wriggled under the heavy coat that she was wearing, which alerted the guards.

Officers who told her to remove her coat discovered nine of the rare birds strapped to her body. The birds have been put in quarantine.

A woman in Sedalia, Missouri, was arrested after police said that she dialed a wrong number and told a police detective that she wanted to buy drugs.

Detective Phil Stewart said that he was sleeping the morning of March 22 when he got a call on his cell phone from the woman, identified as 41-year-old Tammy Banks, of Sedalia.

The call was a wrong number, but Stewart’s suspicions were already up, so he said her friend wasn’t around and then asked the caller what she needed.

“That’s when she told me she wanted half a gram of meth,” Stewart told Marcus Moore, a reporter for a TV station there.

Stewart, who has been a drug-enforcement officer for six years and has executed about 250 warrants, was more than happy to help.

“I just said, ‘Sure, I can do that for you,’” Stewart said.

The TV station reported that Stewart’s partner, Detective Cameron Egan, met the caller at a neighborhood park.

“Still driving over there, I was thinking, ‘There’s no way this is going to happen. It’s too funny,’” Egan said.

Egan said that he took $40 from Banks and gave her a bogus bag of methamphetamine.

“She was relaxed, smiling,” Egan said.

Banks was quickly arrested.

“I wish they were all that easy — it would make our job a lot easier, that’s for sure,” Egan said.

Banks was charged with attempted possession of a controlled substance. As of this writing, she is being held on $5,000 bail.

Here is some advice for all aspiring pot growers. Don’t operate a factory under the street.

This is exactly what happened in Headingley, Leeds, England. The cannabis factory was discovered only after the road above it collapsed when the weed farmers tapped into mains electricity.

The tunnel, which had a ventilation system, was used to divert the electricity supply to power 1,000-plant marijuana factory in a house in this city.

Inspector Richard Coldwell, of West Yorkshire Police, said, “We couldn’t believe it – the road had actually begun to collapse as a result of the tunnel from the cellar.”

Boy, did one guy in Elyria, Ohio, pick the wrong house to burglarize, according to police there. He broke into the home of Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Betleski. So, in the event that this burglar gets busted, he’d better hope he gets a different judge.

Police say that the thief burglarized Betleski’s Princeton Avenue rental home while the judge was out of town the morning of March 24.

Someone absconded with $300 in change, some of Betleski’s jewelry and his liquor.

But luck may be on Betleski’s side, because the cops have tracked down the $1,900 black coral ring that the judge bought during a trip to the Cayman Islands several years ago. There is no word yet on the change, his $300 Bulova watch, a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey, a bottle of Emits Cream Liquor, a bottle of rum or three bottles of wine that also were taken.

“There are six less than when I started,” Betleski said of his missing booze, adding that the thief or thieves missed a bottle of high-quality vodka on the counter.

Elyria Police Lieutenant Andy Eichenlaub said that investigators have some leads in the burglary, which might be connected to two other break-ins within a six-block radius of Betleski’s home that took place the night before.

A neighbor told police that he noticed a man going into Betleski’s house and then leaving shortly thereafter carrying a brown paper bag.

The neighbor’s father said that he attempted to follow a suspicious vehicle that the suspect may have gotten into and was able to give police the license plate number.

When police searched the home, they discovered that the thief had forced his way through a Plexiglas window and opened a deadbolt on the door to gain entry to the house, ransacking the dressers in the judge’s bedroom, a jewelry drawer, and the liquor cabinet.

The experience hasn’t soured Betleski on living in Elyria, although he is moving this week. He and his wife are heading back to their North Ridgeville, Ohio, home, which was recently renovated.

A teen in Blackburn, England, was busted because of his mommy’s concern for him and cell phone technology.

Magistrates there heard how the teen, identified as 18-year-old Matthew Carrie, dropped his phone on the canal bank as he ran from police.

But the phone rang after the cops found it and showed the caller as “Mum.” (Mum is the British child’s word for “mother.”)

“Naturally the police spoke to ‘mum’ and then went round to see her,” said prosecutor Neil White.

“She refused to make a statement but while police were there, the defendant’s phone rang again and this time the caller ID came up with the number of a mobile stolen in the burglary.”

Police realized that Carrie was using the hot phone to search for his own cell phone and came back to the canal bank where they identified him before he ran off again.

Carrie, of Barn Gill Close, Blackburn, confessed to burglary and was bailed for sentencing at Preston Crown Court.

Carrie’s attorney, Jonathan Taylor, said that Carrie’s mother had phoned because she was concerned for his whereabouts at 2:30 in the morning.

“He was under the influence of drink.”