See a bird as a criminal (5)
I believe the answer is:
crook
'a criminal' is the definition.
('crook' can be a synonym of 'criminal')
'see a bird' is the wordplay.
'see' becomes 'c' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers).
'a bird' becomes 'rook' (rook is a kind of bird**).
'c'+'rook'='CROOK'
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for crook that I've seen before include "Well, no" , "Bend; criminal; staff" , "Twister" , "Professional criminal" , "Shepherd's staff" .)