2 Thieves in 6 months: IP Cam Recommendations

[LJR_2019]

oh man, thats great. plant a bunch of these around the Trump sign.

View attachment 72409

 

[iamtalh]

i need too.

 

[slip kid]

Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer, would access garages and use a utility knife (Stanley knife) to cut open a hand hole beside the door knob to reach in the house and unlock the door from the inside. You need plywood separating your garage and living space for this reason, not just beside your door knob. A drywall saw or utility knife can cut a human sized access beside your door in under a minute.

 

[Flavacali]

@bigredfish: I actually haven't even zoomed these cameras at all yet to be honest. Last night I played around with the exposure and other settings. I couldn't get much improvement unfortunately, I'm sure it's my novice approach. It was nothing like your test videos of the 5442 that you posted in another thread.

The distance from the cameras in the video to the wall area in question is about 35-45ft max. I am thinking of replacing 1 camera in the current location (NI model) and then put the variable focus 5442 below it so that it is lower. What do you think about this idea?

@wittaj - I am not sure I could get the angle on the license plates with the plants/trees/walls and gates. I need to take another look at this, I like the idea however.

@windguy: Thief 2 Front was at 10:21pm in the evening, brass balls on the guy. I noticed that he hit at least 5-10 other homes in the same few days according to the neighbors who use the Ring app. They haven't caught the guys yet according to the Police Chief. I'm doubtful but it would be nice...

My intentions are to keep them from going over the wall. I looked at electric wire but it appears that homeowner liability comes into question. I could add additional decorative fencing about 18" tall on that section of the wall with spear tips. It would match everything else so it will look the part. I am going to get some estimates for this.

I did order some 12ga trip wires with blanks. I am going to set up 2 of these on the top of the wall. I believe I can make it tricky to get over without moving the wire setting off the primer cap. I bet that will require a change of pants should someone set it off. I'll be able to hear that before anything else.

Thief 1 grabbed my garage door remote out of the car which has 4 buttons on it. It controlled the gates and garage doors. I removed those from each car now. That was an "oh shit moment" for me... Never again.

I wont utilize the dogs, I am an animal lover and I would never leave them outside 24/7. Plus I have small kids/babies and that can be tricky.

My friend from the military trains personal protection dogs he has his clients dogs wear a electronic collar and install a special type of strong security dog door so when the dog alerts on someone on the property the dog goes to that door and his collar unlocks it it immediately locks the door once the dog crossed the door and unlocks the door again for the dog if he is given the command or you press a button on a remote that plays a tone on the dogs collar to come back inside the house.that way dog isn't left outside all night. I have a Rottweiler who hears someone 20 feet from my front door from inside the house. This is the 4th Rottweiler I've had with my kids and their one of the gentilist and protective with kids.

 

[sebastiantombs]

When I was in the security business I had one customer who was broken into through the garage. They used a sheetrock saw and just cut a hole big enought to walk right into the adjoining dining room. Another customer had them cut right through the outside wall to gain entry. Only takes a few minutes to do either one.

 

[samplenhold]

When I was in the security business I had one customer who was broken into through the garage. They used a sheetrock saw and just cut a hole big enought to walk right into the adjoining dining room. Another customer had them cut right through the outside wall to gain entry. Only takes a few minutes to do either one.

Yeah, if they want in, there is not much you can do to prevent it. Maybe make it take a little longer. When I was in high school, I worked in a drugstore in a sketchy part of Boston. It was one store of many in a strip mall. They would smash the front glass and rob the pharmacy and other parts. They knew how much time they had before the police got there. Then they would go out the back door which was a shipping and receiving door. So the company put up roll-down steel shutters on the windows and doors. So then they decided to drive a stolen car through the back wall next to that door. No alarm then. At that time we only had two laser lines that if you crossed them, the alarm would go off. But they knew where those were. Cleaned out the whole pharmacy of drugs that night. No one knew until they went to open the store the next morning.

 

[atx2222]

Getting better cameras isnt going to help at all. The police will do zero to chase these guys down. In my area you can have a geolocator showing where the thieves have your property and the police still wont do anything. One guy had his motorcycle stolen and found out who they were and directed police to them, who did nothing. Figuratively laid out on a silver platter.

the main use of cameras is for you to be instantly notified of an issue and for you to see what is going on. You can then either call police who will come to an active burglary or you can handle it yourself based upon what you are seeing. Your cameras are already good enough for that.

With regards to your garage door. Pretty much all wall garage door openers have a switch that prevents the door from being opened by remotes. We flip that switch every day.

We park inside the garage

The man door into our garage has a door bar. Exterior to the house is stone.

The garage door into the house has a security wedge (lots of different kinds are available).

You should also replace the 1inch standard screws in hinges and strikeplates with 3 inch screws. You can also get security strike plates which use 6+ 3 inch screws.

One way thieves break in is to use a hydraulic jack on the door frame. It easily widens the frame enough so the door can be silently opened, so a wedge at the bottom of the door can help.

If you have keyless entry, you need to keep your keys in a faraday cage. Thieves are using amplifiers which make the car think the thieves have the key.

The goal of any of these is not to stop thieves, but to slow them down enough that you can call police or be ready if they enter.

 

[looney2ns]

Getting better cameras isnt going to help at all. The police will do zero to chase these guys down. In my area you can have a geolocator showing where the thieves have your property and the police still wont do anything. One guy had his motorcycle stolen and found out who they were and directed police to them, who did nothing. Figuratively laid out on a silver platter.

the main use of cameras is for you to be instantly notified of an issue and for you to see what is going on. You can then either call police who will come to an active burglary or you can handle it yourself based upon what you are seeing. Your cameras are already good enough for that.

With regards to your garage door. Pretty much all wall garage door openers have a switch that prevents the door from being opened by remotes. We flip that switch every day.

We park inside the garage

The man door into our garage has a door bar. Exterior to the house is stone.

The garage door into the house has a security wedge (lots of different kinds are available).

You should also replace the 1inch standard screws in hinges and strikeplates with 3 inch screws. You can also get security strike plates which use 6+ 3 inch screws.

One way thieves break in is to use a hydraulic jack on the door frame. It easily widens the frame enough so the door can be silently opened, so a wedge at the bottom of the door can help.

If you have keyless entry, you need to keep your keys in a faraday cage. Thieves are using amplifiers which make the car think the thieves have the key.

The goal of any of these is not to stop thieves, but to slow them down enough that you can call police or be ready if they enter.

Maybe in your area, here, Police take it very seriously. Better cameras do help.

 

[TechBill]

@ Looney2ns: Thank you for the links. I will see what can be gained with some adjustments. To your point about the car being unlocked, that was a total "face palm" moment. I don't even know how that happened. I agree about the cars being in the garage but I am at capacity. I to put a lift in inside to make some room. That was always the plan but now It just got moved up my list. I still find it ridiculous that I/we have to change our life style in a nice community because of some POS thugs who lack life skills.

Apart from all of that, what was interesting was when the thief got in the car and grabbed the garage door remote and then opened the garage door. That tripped the Alarm which throws all lights to 100% in the entire house. I have 3 exterior sirens so its loud, you can see him trying to get out of the yard and struggled to get the gate open. He made off with my multi channel remote which was in his hand in the video. I found it down the road actually. Until this happened, I never even thought about the garage door remote and how that's a golden ticket to access. We don't use them in the cars any longer.

Most modern garage door opener have remote app that can be added on your phone now days.

We have home automation system and we use stopped using a garage remote control instead we used app on our phone to open the garage door. The remote we will still keep using for family member to gain access to the house to feed our pets and collect mails while we are gone on a trip etc.

 

[987789]

Getting better cameras isnt going to help at all. The police will do zero to chase these guys down. In my area you can have a geolocator showing where the thieves have your property and the police still wont do anything. One guy had his motorcycle stolen and found out who they were and directed police to them, who did nothing. Figuratively laid out on a silver platter.

I am going to skip most of your posts because it's generally over-kill but this part is accurate. Cameras are nice but they do very little outside of being a deterrent to stop crime. You can see how easily it was defeated in these videos. I am very jealous that op has enough cars that a Rolls gets parked outside but that is the biggest thing to keeping your stuff safe. Don't even give them the chance to try the door. I keep my garage shut unless I am actively using it, even when mowing and other lawn work. Plus they are part of the alarm system with door sensors on them.

 

[987789]

Most modern garage door opener have remote app that can be added on your phone now days.

We have home automation system and we use stopped using a garage remote control instead we used app on our phone to open the garage door. The remote we will still keep using for family member to gain access to the house to feed our pets and collect mails while we are gone on a trip etc.

I have stopped handing out keys and have given them door codes for my zwave lock. It lets me know whose code was used and I track their phones on my wifi to disarm the alarm and re-arm

 

[987789]

Maybe in your area, here, Police take it very seriously. Better cameras do help.

I am sure they take it seriously but in less you get a clear shot of their face there isn't much police can do. That was defeated with the masks.

 

[TechBill]

I have stopped handing out keys and have given them door codes for my zwave lock. It lets me know whose code was used and I track their phones on my wifi to disarm the alarm and re-arm

We have zwave locks on all of our 3 exterior doors where we can unlock the door remotely to allow our next door to place our package inside the house. It does notify us whenever someone unlock or lock any of the door.

This what it look like on Apple product Homekit notification look like, I am at work but I know my wife just unlocked that door to let our dog out to use the bathroom.



Our home automation hub is getting a new update with a new feature where we can create a individual user dashboard. I believe with this new feature, we can create a dashboard with a single lock/unlock button for our house sitter to access our home by using their phone's web browser to our hub password protected page created temporary to grant them access to the lock control. No need to train anyone the proper way of entering keys on the lock and we can just email them a link to the lock button with a password to access the page.

 

[987789]

We have zwave locks on all of our 3 exterior doors where we can unlock the door remotely to allow our next door to place our package inside the house. It does notify us whenever someone unlock or lock any of the door.

This what it look like on Apple product Homekit notification look like, I am at work but I know my wife just unlocked that door to let our dog out to use the bathroom.

View attachment 74034

Our home automation hub is getting a new update with a new feature where we can create a individual user dashboard. I believe with this new feature, we can create a dashboard with a single lock/unlock button for our house sitter to access our home by using their phone's web browser to our hub password protected page created temporary to grant them access to the lock control. No need to train anyone the proper way of entering keys on the lock and we can just email them a link to the lock button with a password to access the page.

That relies on a lot more knowledge than teaching them a code. I run home assistant and the easiest way to make this automated is track their Bluetooth or Mac if they connect to your wifi and unlocked based on their connection.

 

[TechBill]

That relies on a lot more knowledge than teaching them a code. I run home assistant and the easiest way to make this automated is track their Bluetooth or Mac if they connect to your wifi and unlocked based on their connection.

I used to run HA on RasPI with zwave/zigbee stick which is an awesome open source software.

I switched over to Hubitat Elevation and the RasPI that I used to have HA installed on now runs Homebridge to link the Hubitat Elevation hub to Apple HomeKit. We really like the Homekit and we think it a kickass home automation dashboard by Apple. We use Apple TV as our Homekit hub.

 

[looney2ns]

I am sure they take it seriously but in less you get a clear shot of their face there isn't much police can do. That was defeated with the masks.

Many crimes have been solved by properly installed cameras, even with face mask's involved. Many other ways of ID'ing a perp besides the face.
It happens all the time.

 

[CCTVCam]

Landmines!

Preferably in an unknown world language, as you never know these perks origin

Yeah but then you get noise complaints...



..and you have to pay the cleaner overtime.


Double whammy.

 

[CCTVCam]

I am going to skip most of your posts because it's generally over-kill but this part is accurate. Cameras are nice but they do very little outside of being a deterrent to stop crime. You can see how easily it was defeated in these videos. I am very jealous that op has enough cars that a Rolls gets parked outside but that is the biggest thing to keeping your stuff safe. Don't even give them the chance to try the door. I keep my garage shut unless I am actively using it, even when mowing and other lawn work. Plus they are part of the alarm system with door sensors on them.

He's right about the keys though. The number one method of stealing cars with high tech locks now is to amplify the wireless signal so as to activate the doors locks and ignitions. This is easily defeated with a signal blocking key wallet (although they do wear out quickly) or by putting your keys in a metal box at night - the microwave is a favourite as it's designed to stop microwaves getting out. Just don't let anyone microwave your keys as it gets expensive! A safe will probably work as well as it's a steel box, but I couldn't gaurantee that. You'd have to speak to an expert.

As for cameras being defeated a) nothing is perfect, b) if worried, use a combination of overt and covert cameras with the aim of capturing footage on the covert ones, c) as pointed out int he negative post, at the very least, cameras can give you an alert you have an intruder and enable you to call the police / get you gun depending on your legal options in your state. Without a notifiation, the 1st you might know is when some guy confronts you in your hallway and you're not prepared.

As for doors, if you have a lot to lose get reinforced ones fitted. Home doors tend not to be that tuff. However, there are many commercial doors out there designed to resit attack with are eg steel lined and fitted with heavy duty high security hinges and no separate beaded panels. Even a thick heavy wooden door can stand up to a lot of abuse if solid hard wood.

 

[windguy]

He's right about the keys though. The number one method of stealing cars with high tech locks now is to amplify the wireless signal so as to activate the doors locks and ignitions.

You sparked my curiosity. Quick search found confirmation. Going to have to give this further consideration. Thanks to you and @atx2222 for posting.

5 Impressive Ways Criminals Use Wireless Signals to Steal Everything—Even Your Car

Grab this simple gear and fight back.

www.popularmechanics.com

Going to disagree with the notion that getting better cameras isn't going to help at all.
I think it's neighborhood specific on how your local police respond to crimes in your area.
In my town, policing is outsourced to the county sheriffs. They are very proactive to all forms of crime.
In fact, recently on Nextdoor, the sheriff that contributes regularly, listed out steps to take to protect your property and had detailed points regarding security cameras, cut/pasted below.

• Install high quality exterior cameras with clear day and night time resolution that is at face level.
• Have cameras cover common entry points such as front doors, side gates, back windows and back sliding doors.
• Utilize “Smart” camera systems that have the ability to alert you of activations with an app on your mobile phone.

 

[Dr Noisewater]

Lots of great updates here!!

I had no clue about the car theft ie "amplifiers." I always was curious how they were taking cars right out of the driveways these days. Its not like the old 3 wires under the column anymore... I heard about a Blue colored Rolls taken about 1/4 mile up the road as well, i might have mentioned it earlier, makes me wonder. In any event, our keys are now in a metal box. We also took the remotes out of the cars and use Control4 to pop the doors and gates. I wonder if their is tech that can grab the signal for the Liftmaster remotes..

I have been waiting for the electricians to run some new cat 6 from the rack out to the exterior of the walls so that I can add some new cameras, that's been a slow process.
I have had 4 railing companies come out to quote the extra railing sections to add some height to the low walls. All 4 have not followed up and basically flaked out. Its been a pathetic display thus far.
In the meantime, I took some advice from you all and bought the 12 gauge trip wire setup I saw on Ebay. I just got the blanks from Cabalas. I need to get out there and rig it up. I think this will be good until the railing gets installed. Its certainly not going to be expected when someone hops the wall. I just hope the iguanas don't find it first as they like to climb over at times.

In other news, the local police caught 2 morons that were breaking into cars over here. I know this is a few of many, buts its something. I have noticed more police rolling around as well.