We live in a fairly low crime area but even so, I'm hearing stories of masked men riding around on bikes climbing into gardens etc over the last
few weeks....
I am planning to make my garden wall/fence harder to climb and secure the gates a bit better but I was wondering if there is any benefit in installing
CCTV?
They are masked and from footage I have seen online they seem to care very little about being filmed.... Thus making the expenditure on CCTV less
worthwhile....
Is it a deterrent? Or perhaps an advert that there's something worth stealing inside?! Would the police even do anything with the footage?!
Do you have CCTV?
[Edited on 18/9/23 by tegwin]
a dummy camera is just as much of a deterrent as a live one.
and they are not expensive.
probably the best is:
one (or a couple) hidden live camera,
and several dummy ones.
edit to add
it is possible to repurpose an old smartphone as cctv, and just have it looking like a clock.
[Edited on 18-9-2023 by gremlin1234]
I run 3 cameras recording 24/7. It acts as a bit of a deterrent ,but not much. It allowed me to ask a guy to not stop to pee in my drive while on his
way home from the pub. But if someone broke into my house, they'd likely be able to do so without being identified because they'd be trying
to stay covered. Mostly it just lets me see if anyone is wandering about and yell at them, with the hopes that I'd recover some snippet of useful
info like a van reg if it all went wrong.
But then I only really did it because I like gizmos, had a home automation system set up anyway and was going to be out of the country fairly
often.
Half decent quality from 20 quid cameras, ignore the jumping times- I've just cobbled together an edit on my phone lol
https://youtu.be/AxLlag2wtUM
[Edited on 18/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
I understand the deterrent factor maybe putting some people off. However. if you have an active CCTV system and capture footage of people climbing
over your fence/causing damage...
1. Will the police/insurers do anything with the footage?
2. Are the police allowed to use the footage in court as evidence?
I don't know the answers, just asking the questions.
Police won't do anything *without* it in my experience. They take the "no evidence, not interested" route. When a kid ran over my car,
the first question was "do you have CCTV?". I had a super rare gearbox stolen off my drive, they said they couldn't do anything without
footage.
[Edited on 18/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
Police won't do anything *without* it in my experience. They take the "no evidence, not interested" route. When a kid ran over my car, the first question was "do you have CCTV?". I had a super rare gearbox stolen off my drive, they said they couldn't do anything without footage.
[Edited on 18/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
I was rushed into hospital and that very night someone tried to break in. Scared my wife and kids massively. Police explained you're in an arms
race with your neighbours against the average criminal. If they're stealing to order, they'll target you. If they're not they look for
the easy target. Lots of our neighbours had lights and cameras, we didn't. We got targeted. We got lights and cameras. Neighbour a few doors down
got targeted twice. They've got lights and cameras and ..... we've all had nothing since - every house is lit and most have cameras now.
Luckily via two neighbours cameras the police identified the car used against us, couple of months and one chase later 4 lads admitted to ours and
something like 60 other offences.
You don't have to make Fort Knox, just make your neighbours look easier.
Thanks for the replies all. Boils my wee wee the amount of blazen crime that seems to be happening...
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
I run 3 cameras recording 24/7. It acts as a bit of a deterrent ,but not much. It allowed me to ask a guy to not stop to pee in my drive while on his way home from the pub. But if someone broke into my house, they'd likely be able to do so without being identified because they'd be trying to stay covered. Mostly it just lets me see if anyone is wandering about and yell at them, with the hopes that I'd recover some snippet of useful info like a van reg if it all went wrong.
But then I only really did it because I like gizmos, had a home automation system set up anyway and was going to be out of the country fairly often.
Half decent quality from 20 quid cameras, ignore the jumping times- I've just cobbled together an edit on my phone lol
https://youtu.be/AxLlag2wtUM
[Edited on 18/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
We went for Ring doorbell, they've been quite useful for a few things but their zone monitoring works well. I've actually mounted one above
the porch to use as a camera, for some reason the Ring cameras are more expensive than the doorbells despite having similar performance.
The only thing is that it's subscription based and all online. CCTV by it's nature is very reliable, with physical wires needed to upset
things. The Ring kit is wifi, so any old Aliexpress sourced wifi blocker would knock them offline before they got a chance to react. They don't
have onboard storage, so no wifi, no picture.
On the same subject though, you can get GPS trackers for cars at a really low price, they work off PAYG mobile SIMs and as long as they're
powered and hidden they're pretty safe. I've bought one for my tintop although I've yet to install it, I figured that out of everything
that is stealable at home the car would be the most inconvenient. Everything else is either backed-up IT tech or zero value sentimental stuff.
I went with hikvision analogue cameras, 3 cover the sides of the house and one on the garage covers the approach. They're good and at 5mp high
resolution (at the time) but everything is a trade-off. Quality Vs storage volume. Don't expect digital phone picture quality without burning
through days. Current setup gets me about 18 days with remote access.
Today I'd stick with hikvision (look how many companies have their cameras) but go ip based.
Security lights plus a 4 camera system and wouldn't be without it now we have it
As commented above, the police like cameras as its something they can use if needed
There's some bad people out there folks and times have definetly changed for the worse...
I have my surveillance "man" on the job, aka Mad Max and a squirrel can't so much fart near my house without being detected, he's very dedicated to patrolling the property. Hard to see at night too and moves very fast, Oh and he will bite!
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Thanks for the replies all. Boils my wee wee the amount of blazen crime that seems to be happening...
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
I run 3 cameras recording 24/7. It acts as a bit of a deterrent ,but not much. It allowed me to ask a guy to not stop to pee in my drive while on his way home from the pub. But if someone broke into my house, they'd likely be able to do so without being identified because they'd be trying to stay covered. Mostly it just lets me see if anyone is wandering about and yell at them, with the hopes that I'd recover some snippet of useful info like a van reg if it all went wrong.
But then I only really did it because I like gizmos, had a home automation system set up anyway and was going to be out of the country fairly often.
Half decent quality from 20 quid cameras, ignore the jumping times- I've just cobbled together an edit on my phone lol
https://youtu.be/AxLlag2wtUM
[Edited on 18/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
What cameras are you using?
All hard wired through screened, armoured cable and recorded to a DVR buried under the floor. I'd like some IR
illuminators away from the camera because the in-camera ones tend to just show up rain only when raining quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
These wee cheapies that don't require cloud connection https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32856375206.html and a cheapo 40 quid DVR, I don't like subscriptions .
[Edited on 19/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
These wee cheapies that don't require cloud connection https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32856375206.html and a cheapo 40 quid DVR, I don't like subscriptions .
[Edited on 19/9/2023 by coyoteboy]
beware of cheep internet connected cameras, many of the older ones provided an easy 'back door' into your home network.
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
Yeah, I'm not too concerned to be honest (nothing on the subnet to snoop) but even so, I have hard firewall rules preventing any outgoing or incoming ports other than those I pick, and I access the hardware via VPN into the subnet and don't expose the external interfaces. Having watched the traffic for a while when some of the initial discussions around hacked cameras was out, I see nothing.
quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
you are certainly not the average user ;-)
I install Hikvision CCTV equipment as part of my job and we install into schools and businesses and can thoroughly recommend.
I have 3 cameras on my house, one in the garage, and 2 covering the two exposed sides of my house and is certainly useful as a deterent but as stated
already, if the gits are covered up then you wont get much to use.
The NVRs tend to record onb a loop and if you fit a 6TB servilance drive this will last you about 30 days ish before it starts to loop back over the
footage depending on how many cameras you have fitted and the MP qulaity of the cameras.
The Police are F*&kin useless. In the past 18 months I have contacted them 3 times on 3 separate instances. One with dash cam footage where I was
cut up the inside by.....yes a twat in a BMW who when I flashed him, stopped in the road, got out of his car and came up to my van wanting a fight.
When I drove off he smashed my wing mirror. Despite having footage of him doing it, smashing the mirror and having previous for it they did
nothing.
Van broken into in London, in front of CCTV cameras and £10k worth of tools nicked, not enough evidence.
Wifes credit card used in 2 shops and the local garage near us, got the CCTV footage from all three including the guy using the card, the car he
turned up in with the registartion plate, then found the car on his drive and him walking into the residence. Statement given to the police and they
have donw F all but warned me not to approach him.
So basically, the Police love CCTV but in my experience do nothing with it.
Friend on a bike got overtaken dangerously close by a van driver who caused another car coming towards them to swerve into a junction to avoid the
van.
He posted the clip to the police and forgot about it. God knows how many months later he was invited to court as a witness. Van driver found guilty.
Sometimes video evidence does help.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Friend on a bike got overtaken dangerously close by a van driver who caused another car coming towards them to swerve into a junction to avoid the van.
He posted the clip to the police and forgot about it. God knows how many months later he was invited to court as a witness. Van driver found guilty. Sometimes video evidence does help.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Friend on a bike got overtaken dangerously close by a van driver who caused another car coming towards them to swerve into a junction to avoid the van.
He posted the clip to the police and forgot about it. God knows how many months later he was invited to court as a witness. Van driver found guilty. Sometimes video evidence does help.
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Thanks for the replies all. Boils my wee wee the amount of blazen crime that seems to be happening...
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Friend on a bike got overtaken dangerously close by a van driver who caused another car coming towards them to swerve into a junction to avoid the van.
He posted the clip to the police and forgot about it. God knows how many months later he was invited to court as a witness. Van driver found guilty. Sometimes video evidence does help.
Certainly does. I was in court last Friday. Dufus in a Range Rover decided not to merge in turn when two lanes went into one, ended up driving down the road against oncoming traffic next to me, swerved in front of me, brake tested me, then sat stationary for about 3 seconds before blasting up the road, next set of lights sat there despite them being on green, waiting for them to turn amber then burnt it away. All on dashcam.... Could have accepted the FPN and had 3 points and 100. Took it to court, he got 5 points and total of 741!
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Friend on a bike got overtaken dangerously close by a van driver who caused another car coming towards them to swerve into a junction to avoid the van.
He posted the clip to the police and forgot about it. God knows how many months later he was invited to court as a witness. Van driver found guilty. Sometimes video evidence does help.
Certainly does. I was in court last Friday. Dufus in a Range Rover decided not to merge in turn when two lanes went into one, ended up driving down the road against oncoming traffic next to me, swerved in front of me, brake tested me, then sat stationary for about 3 seconds before blasting up the road, next set of lights sat there despite them being on green, waiting for them to turn amber then burnt it away. All on dashcam.... Could have accepted the FPN and had 3 points and 100. Took it to court, he got 5 points and total of 741!
oof that's a slippery vigilante slope!