attempted break-in, any ideas about security cameras?

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sonofaghost

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Aug 29, 2022
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FYI - I live in a condo w/ woods out back & a trail that leads various places, like to a dirt rd, a water tower & town

today is Friday 9/2/22

Last night (Thursday 9/1/22), after work, I was on my patio & noticed the tarp over my bulkhead was pulled down far enough, as if someone was reaching for the handle. I keep the tarp over my bulkhead to keep rain out. It's easier to just leave it on all the time. I keep in on w/ magnets & bricks. The landscapers, even w/ leaf blowers never move it, like this was moved. I have since pulled it back up.

I asked my next door neighbor (next unit, in my bldg), if she had seen anyone from the management company, for example, checking the bulkheads or doing a general walk-around. This is what she told me:

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Weird you should mention this. Wednesday (8/31/22) night at 2:20am I saw a light flash in my kitchen window. I had fallen asleep on my living room chair and the light came through to me so I got up. He must have seen me. I went outside and checked NAME REMOVED, her other neighbor's slider (on the other side, in the same bldg), peered over at your place and checked the parking lot. I saw absolutely nothing. I am putting my bar on the slider daily, now.

I thought it was you or another neighbor's NAME REMOVED dad walking because of jetlag from the Europe trip. When I went outside I couldn't see anyone at all. The light moved from the direction of NAME REMOVED (her next door neighbor) condo to my window and back toward NAME REMOVED (her neighbor on the other side). I truly meant to call you but have a health problem, a mold problem on my slider frame …
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I let our local Police know & they asked if we had surveillance video. We don't. Any ideas about security cameras?
 
I do not have any information on security cameras other than suggesting the one you install have night vision capabilities.

You may want to get one of those motion activated lights and point it in a way to get attention. Only problem with that is that animals may set it off.
 
My personal opinion about security cameras is that, while they can be a deterrent, they are basically WORTHLESS for preventing or solving any house burglaries or break-ins because usually the suspect is wearing a mask and/or isn't on camera long enough to make an identification.

I've got a couple of Ring security cams on my house -- a Doorbell Cam at the front door and a Spotlight cam at the backdoor -- that I installed strictly as a visual deterrent. I never expect any videos taken by them to assist in any way in solving any crime that might be committed at my house.

I've seen videos taken by "neighbors" on the Ring network in my area of people in the act of committing or attempting to commit various (usually petty) crimes at their homes but there's no way you could make a positive ID of anyone from those videos.

However, you could (and many do) put up PHONY security cams as a deterrent, especially in high traffic areas or in areas that are not easily patrolled, which would be just as good as installing "real" security cams in terms of deterrance.

I've also put PHONY ADT signs in the ground in the front/back of my house and PHONY ADT stickers in windows in the front/side/back of the house as a visual deterrent, as well. I bought the signs/stickers on EB.

IMO, the only security camera worth a d*mn is one that can photograph the license plate of the car that someone gets out of/into before/after committing a crime at your house but it's nearly impossible to position any home security cam to catch a license plate, unless s/he stupidly parks in your driveway which admittedly is a possibility but still most likely a rare event.

I've thought about putting one in the back of my truck which sits in front of my house 99% of the time and has a clear view of cars coming into/out of my cul de sac but there has been absolutely no crime in my cul de sac in the 13 going on 14 years that I've lived here. So, I've never bothered doing that.

The next best thing you can do to prevent a house burglary/break in is to sufficiently armor the possible sources of entry which is generally the doors. Most burglars prefer not to break in thru windows but that is not unheard of and they need to be properly secured too.

Lots of "advice" online about how to do this.
 
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My bedroom overlooks the back, one window over the patio, one window over the bulkhead. I’m leaning toward motion activated light and alarm and photo sent to a nearby receiver. electric - I can hang it from a window, w the window shut
 
sonofaghost said:
My bedroom overlooks the back, one window over the patio, one window over the bulkhead. I’m leaning toward motion activated light and alarm and photo sent to a nearby receiver. electric - I can hang it from a window, w the window shut
Click to expand...

Oh, I also have motion activated lights in front, back and the side of my house. Those are good deterrents too.
 
As it changes often, you need to look into the policies of any camera setup that you get, since you would likely want to have it accessible from off-site, but maybe not shared with the cops without your consent. Depending on the company, they may have a "no warrant needed" policy, for sharing that footage. Also, you may need to be pretty tech savvy to ensure that you can set up a wireless camera system that is secure since you don't want anyone using your cameras against you. There are a lot of different ways to go about it.
false cameras are unlikely to be much of a real deterrent, and burglary clearance rates are pretty low, cameras or not. What you want to have is a good enough system that your insurance company will be happy to pay out the replacement value for your stuff.
 
You have three options for cameras really.

1. Pick up ring or one of the other systems and pay a monthly with cloud storage
2. Buy wifi cams on the cheap and dump the video feed locally to a computer or recording device.
3. buy a closed system with security dvr.

Option 1 is simple and just cost you a monthly.

Option 2 is cost up front but then no monthly and requires a more detailed setup.

I make use of option 2. I have wifi cams that dump my video feeds to a Synology NAS to store. Synology has a built in app to view/open the feeds either live or from recordings.

Option 3 is the typical cctv cams you see in a lot of office buildings. 3rd party install blah blah.

Also, get some motion activated flood lights if you don't have them.
 
Here in switzerland people put these things on the outside of their houses.Its an alarm/flash.
Houses with these on never get burglarized

images.jpeg-8.jpg
 
I have ring and blink now, used to do iptv cameras plus Blue Iris (software) for web viewing and feed maintenance.

Blue Iris is the nicest and most customizable software for sure. Cameras are also cheapest that way.

Ring and Blink are quicker and push motion notifications nicer. Blink is simpler overall, and the cameras are way cheaper than Ring's. Ring gives the options of expanding to a full security system a la ADT.

So of those three, I'd recommend depending on what you prioritize:
Simplest: Blink
Most customizable: iptv cameras plus Blue Iris
Cheapest (and no monthly cost): iptv cameras plus Blue Iris
Full security system expansion ability: Ring
 
How much are you willing to spend? Most cameras on the cheaper side don't provide enough resolution (not pixel resolution but details to identify someone).

The camera lens matters a lot. Then there is the Field of View version longer range resolution.

Finally, camera angles matter! Mounted up high will obscure facial features unless you have a ~$2K camera with a good zoom lens.
 
Well I have some partial good news. I can't explain the light my neighbor saw but I found out our Son stopped by the house & he moved the tarp to put a small fridge in our basement. We thought we was just going to bring a cpl boxes down the inside stairs.

still curious who our neighbor saw or thinks she saw at 2:20am. maybe it was a UFO?
 
IPCamtalk is a forum which is a good place to start learning about Surveillance cameras.

I have the Hikvision 4K 1.2" sensor version in a wide FOV and the longer range version as well. These cost me a bit over $200 each at the time, about a year ago. Mounted on the eve of my house by a flood light at about 10' in height, the wide FOV version overviews my farm site pretty well with enough resolution to read license plates and get facial recognition at ~50' or more depending on lighting. The longer range version will do facial recognition at ~300' in the daytime and ~100'~150' at night with license plates and similar things from a much greater distance.

There is a big difference in $100 versus $200 IP security cameras. Pay attention the sensor as a lot of them claim really good numbers but, totally suck at night due to small sensor sizes. 1/1.2" is as small as you want on a 4K security camera. 720P and lower resolutions work pretty well at night with 1/1.8" sensors.

Synology Surveillance Station

Synology NAS include licensing for 2 IP cameras with their NAS, even the cheaper ones commonly seen at Staples and similar stores for ~$200 with a couple hard drives. The Synology "factory" cameras are really simple to connect and run with decent images. Their cameras are not as good as my Hikvision version but, in an urban setting with reduced ranging needs should work really well with good camera placement.
 
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