Do you care (and thus record) traffic on your street?

[ipmania]

Another naive question: do you care about what happens on your street or the alley behind your house?

At first blush, I am thinking it would be nice to know who's walking near my house or be able to record the cars that go past.

But now that I've read a little here, I believe that having a wide-angle camera view such that I could see pedestrians and cars coming and going would result in an image that would have less detailed information for identification. It could be better to ignore what's going on beyond my property line.

It also occurred to me that I could be unpopular with people who want to walk around the neighborhood in anonymity. Maybe someone who once felt at ease wheeling in by car for some salacious fun is concerned that I have their car's comings and goings time and date-stamped.

Maybe I'll get broken into and have my DVR equipment stolen under the pretext of a burglary (just kidding.).

On the other hand, if I do have bad people visit my place, having footage of their arrival and departure as they come towards and leave my property could be very useful. If they are wearing masks and hats, they might still be identified by a license plate that I've recorded.

Anyhow, what are your thoughts on capturing the goings-on in the environment around you? (My situation is a middle-class suburb.)

 

[Flintstone61]

While my driveway cam is angled down at the property and front lawn, about about 10% of the frame on top catches passing traffic. 1 car stopped and deposited a piece of Pecan Pie in my mailbox on Thanksgiving. So it had been an m-80 or something, I caught the plate with another cam. So yeah, sometimes its ok to catch anamalous rare events.
My 2- side of the house cams watch for motion at the ground floor windows. but also catch the street in its periphery. and that is where I can obstensibly catch plates. I dont save plates to a database and build " a case" on local neighbors, But the Apartments across the street have visitors or unusual traffic at unusual hours like shitty Rusty Suburbans and Blazers that seem to "lurk" sometimes.
So yeah I want collect data about that.

 

[CanCuba]

My house sits on a corner lot and my cameras cover the entire roadway up to, and including, the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.

My concern is foot traffic and there is quite a bit as I live in a hospital zone and few people own cars.

On the principal street, I have two camera doing face detection. I get about 1000 captures on a weekday and I estimate that's north of 75% of the people walking on the street. The cameras have captured faces as far as 20m away with identify quality.

Traffic isn't a concern of mine but I will take the time to set up LPR when I move to Blue Iris later this year. Storage is cheap and if the hardware/software are capable, why not?

As for people coming and going from my property, I'm waiting for the arrival of a BoobieCam which will be dedicated to doing face detection on my front entrance. See the planned installation thread here:

BoobieCam Planned Installation

Instead of continuing to hijack another thread, I'll post what I want to accomplish with pictures of the planned installation and the zones I need covered. We will be using the 2x 4MP BoobieCam. Here's what I want to accomplish: To have a clear view of both my front door and the gate from the...

ipcamtalk.com

I'm impressed with Davis's face detection and I do believe that the cameras are learning to take better snapshots. One camera is capturing almost double the faces it did when it was installed with the same amount of foot traffic.

I think capturing both foot and vehicle traffic are key. Most robberies are planned out ahead of time and are not spontaneous. I don't have time to look up the threads but there have been discussions about catalytic converter thefts. Even these often aren't spontaneous as the thieves seem to hunt for desired vehicles.

I also review footage from between 10pm and 6am every day. Anything suspicious gets copied to an external hard drive and the event logged in a spreadsheet.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[Ssayer]

At the street (about 20 feet in) I've got a cam up about 20 feet up in a tree. It's facing my mailbox on the opposite side of the street. I always know when I've gotten mail as I have an alarm with a zone with a 2 sec. MAKE time set up on that cam. With that cam, I see the entire end of the driveway, the street, my mailbox, and about... say... 30 feet in of what's across the street. I've had a cam up there for many years now. It took most of my NEIGHBORS years before they even noticed it. Most other people never will notice it. Seriously, I don't want to "to ignore what's going on beyond my property line." I've gotten some humorous footage out there as well as some great wildlife footage.

 

[wittaj]

Laws vary by country, state and local laws. In general if signs are posted, it is because of a law.

Many will place the sign so that people know the audio may be recorded as well. Some states that is an issue, although we haven't seen many instances of someone getting cited for a Ring doorbell. The laws simply haven't caught up yet.

If there were an issue with recording audio, one would hope the police would not be partnering with Ring and others to allow folks to be able to distribute their audio and video to them...If it were a big issue in your jurisdiction, I would hope they would not ask for it and jeopardize their case if a defense attorney could use it to make a claim to dismiss the case based on illegally obtained recordings....but we do see that happen on other items where they say the police illegally obtained information, searched, etc...

Amazon’s Ring now reportedly partners with more than 2,000 US police and fire departments

In general, if you can see the same thing you could standing on your property, it is fair game. Obviously do not have a camera zoomed and focused in on a bedroom or bathroom or a camera on the 2nd floor zoomed in over a privacy fence to see your neighbor sunbathing in the nude.

But with so many having wide angle cameras, you would see more standing on your porch looking in your neighbors window across the street than with that wide angle cam LOL.

Research the internet or talk to an attorney. These links may help:

Legality of Security Camera Usage & Placement in 2024

There are two types of laws that greatly influence the legality of security cameras: Expectation of privacy laws for video recordings and one- or two-party

www.security.org

Video Surveillance System Buying Guide

Video surveillance systems can protect your business. Learn tips for choosing the best video surveillance system and features for your security needs.

www.businessnewsdaily.com

Audio Surveillance Laws by State:Everything You Need to Know

When considering audio surveillance laws by state, most states have specific laws that govern the use of electronic recording of conversations of any kind.

www.upcounsel.com

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[wittaj]

For those of us that can legally record what is happening around us, we do. It helps fill in the pieces for the police. Maybe the perps didn't hit your house, but by capturing what is happening in the street, you capture the perp.

Plus many of us run a camera to capture license plates. Obviously that is recording traffic on our street LOL.

I do not chat to my neighbors that I have cameras. Some have noticed, but most do not.

When we had door checkers in here a couple years ago or so and the neighbors with cameras were talking how their great arlo, ring doorbell, Lorex, Foscam, and reolinks captured something happened but the police couldn't find any useful video from them other than what time their car was rummaged thru (several had their car rummaged through and their cameras were less than 10 feet from their car) and they were chatting how this is just an accepted fact from camera systems and poor nighttime performance. I just stood there smirking to myself.

One of them joked that my cameras probably didn't catch anything since I didn't have a car on the driveway that night and they skipped me. I didn't want to brag or boast LOL, but I let them see what my cameras captured and they were blown away. The money shot that got all their stolen stuff back was my 2MP varifocal optically zoomed in to a spot on the sidewalk 60 feet away at the street where the perp walked past and my LPR got their plate.

They were shocked my 2MP cameras were blowing away their 4K cameras...and one with sense started replacing cameras and buying them from Andy since they would work with his Lorex DVR. He was all ticked that his $1,300 Lorex 4k box kit was being beat by a 2MP camera LOL, but he recognized now what we all preach and went with 2MP cams to replace his 4K cams...now several of these have since been updated to better cameras with the right MP/sensor combination, but many of us know that a good 2MP camera will beat out a low-end 4K camera on the same sensor size all night long!

And then I have had a few neighbors that have given me rude remarks on my cameras, but who was the first person they asked when something happened to one of their cars? I should have been "oh man sorry I didn't catch it", but I was nice and provided them with the make/model/plate of the car that hit theirs.

Another neighbor stopped when I was putting one up one day and was like "can you stop please". Guess what, that camera provided the info he needed when he was broken into.

I wish my neighbors would offer some money when I save them money by having useful video LOL. My system has literally recovered thousands of dollars worth of stolen stuff or repairs for parked cars hit. Even 10% of the value of the damage would add up LOL.

 

[Flintstone61]

Oh yeah, in the city news letter there was a place to fill out a form if you want to let the PoPo know what area/intersection your cams cover. So i sent one in.
I'm gonna get them dang Weed smokers. lol

 

[wittaj]

Oh yeah, in the city news letter there was a place to fill out a form if you want to let the PoPo know what area/intersection your cams cover. So i sent one in.
I'm gonna get them dang Weed smokers. lol

Wrong thread (cross-threading for those at home LOL)

 

[looney2ns]

Yes and yes.

 

[Mark_M]

Recording the street in front of your house is good.
In my country; recording of the street is generally okay because it is a public place and your cameras intension is to protect your property facing the street.

I have 'video structuration' turned on with my Dahua NVR, so I can search back to find every person/vehicle spotted.
Very handy when there has been break-in's and I could jump back two weeks to find when a person is scoping out the area.

 

[samplenhold]

I believe that having a wide-angle camera view such that I could see pedestrians and cars coming and going would result in an image that would have less detailed information for identification. It could be better to ignore what's going on beyond my property line.

Wide-angle overview cams have their place in the total cam deployment plan. LPR is an aspect of IPCAMS that can be very helpful. Having an overview cam that gives you information on the make, model, color, etc. of the car who's plate you just captured is also critical. See these threads for more information.

Use of Overview and LPR Cams to Document Midnight Vehicle Distributing Offensive Flyers on Lawns

We were out of town and I was checking my cams remotely one morning and noticed one of the Deputies that regularly patrol my subdivision had been at my front door. She has come to me a few times requesting video as she knows I have fairly good coverage of the streets at my corner. I noticed that...

ipcamtalk.com

Why I Like Redundant Views/Multiple Cam Views

A lot of newbies ask for help with their camera setups and most think that they can get by with a single cam to cover quite a bit of area. While that is possible if all you are interested in is a wide-angle overview, it usually will not give you a great chance of getting a face shot good enough...

ipcamtalk.com

Why I like Continuous Recording (aka 24/7)

So a guy came to the door yesterday, and while my wife did not open the door, it kind of spooked her out. She said he seem suspicious saying he found a driver's license on the lawn and wanted to know if it belonged to her. So when I got back from the range, I checked out the cams. This is one...

ipcamtalk.com

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Sybertiger]

If someone is standing on my driveway at the edge of the street and I want to see their face the camera clearly has to see more than the driveway concrete. It will need to be pointed up and as a result you will see the street and the house across street. I'm not sure how anyone could avoid that.

Regarding cars driving by, yes I am triggering on every car driving by and saving the 10 second clip of it. Why? Just for fun. I have a cam that is watching my driveway and it sees the street also. So I clone the cam in BI and that cam triggers on every vehicle then DeepStack verifies it. It doesn't use much disk space. I don't trigger on pedestrians as we don't have much foot traffic.