intruder in the driveway and carport

Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
7,413
Reaction score
25,995
Location
Spring, Texas
Please watch and tell me the proper way to respond to a situation like this.
If you mean after the fact, then I would call the police to report it. I bet he stole from others in the area. Your video may give them some info on the guy, especially from his clothing and backpacks. He did not even look inside your Jeep, let alone try the door. He may just be casing the place. Looked like he spied your cam pointing at the carport.

If you mean you were up and saw it as it was happening, that would depend on a lot of things. As you are in Canada, I doubt that you have a firearm available to you. Even if you did, confronting someone in the dark, and you being armed, can be problematic. Have you had force on force training? If not, then do not go outside. You do not know if there are more out there just out of cam view. He did not react to the lights coming on. He is a seasoned burglar. Call the police ASAP to get them rolling.

Making enough noise so that he knows someone is there and the lights did not come on unattended, may make him run away. But these types are so used to motion lights that it does not phase them.

Putting yourself in harms way to protect property after dark is not usually a smart thing to do.
 

J Sigmo

Known around here
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Messages
997
Reaction score
1,335
As others have said: You should share the video with the police. They may well recognize him, and he probably had some stolen items in his packs, so maybe someone else will benefit by getting their stuff back. Plus, everyone will benefit if he's no longer on the streets stealing stuff.
 

CCTVCam

Known around here
Joined
Sep 25, 2017
Messages
2,671
Reaction score
3,497
Homeless and probably a druggie. Not sure he was looking to break in. He had very little interest in your truck. It looked like he was looking for tools or other items left laying around, possibly to sell. Someone above mentioned he had bolt cutters on him. Didn't notice these but given his lack of interest in entry, it's possible he stole these from someone else's garage. Yiour footage might help place him as a suspect in another theft.

This is where an active defence camera might come into it's own or a speaker on an existing camera - it's much safer to talk to him over a speaker than go out as he might be armed or deluded. Active defence will probably scare him especially if a voice message is broadcast in addition to police siren, flashing lights.

A locked gate on the driveway is always a good idea as an open driveway is an open invitation.

Some have mentioned confronting him with a gun. Not sure of the legality of that in Canada. Also, always the risk he's armed. In my mind better to staysafe and do it remetely unless you absolutely have to defend you property. In which case, you've already warned him over the broadcast and the warnings are recorded as evidence so it's easier to confront him without having to give additional long warnings. Just make sure you stay safe and comply with local laws.

Personally I'd consider upgrading your point (driveway cameras) to either Hikvision DS-2CD2087G2-L(U) or Dahua IPC-Color4K-X / DH-IPC-HFW5894T1-ASE-LED 's when the latter become available. Full colour at night makes a great difference and it appears you have enough light in the garage and you could easily add a sensor floodlight to the external roof of the garage at the front if you wnted more light there. Both have a microphone and the Dahua has a built in speaker giving you the ability with Dahua to chat to the guy or posisbly play messages or an alarm tone (unsure what the software options permit).

Active defence is the other way to go, but atm, AD isn't available on the large sensor sized cameras and can degrade the picture quality once the flashing starts. So best avoided as a main recognition camera as the lower light performance might not get the money shot. AD's are great as overview cameras where there's a 2nd point camera and the AD features are delayed ie for areas where people will have already been picked up on the other point cameras 1st and where the delay avoids spoiling the money shot. Another great use for these is to record / scare someone who accesses an enclosed back garden through the front of the house where the front cameras will have already recorded a face. Everyone's different in requirements and some may choose AD as point. Personally for me, AD is great but more of a secondary cameray atm with the small sensor sizes. Very useful tool though for scaring off intruders and well worth having in your arsenal alongside other cameras.
 
Last edited:

Heyok

Pulling my weight
Joined
Dec 9, 2020
Messages
39
Reaction score
156
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Thank you all for the comments.
I have had my vehicles broken into five times in the six years I have lived here.
This is the second crack-head that I have caught. The first one I managed to hang onto until the police arrived to take him away. They let me know that he would be back on the street later that afternoon.
I've given the police video on four occasions and nothing good has ever come of it.
One officer said that it was reasonable that a guy like this ending up with a broken nose.

Here is an edited version of the rest of this encounter

There is some profanity in here. Sorry.

 
Last edited:

TVille

Getting comfortable
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
672
Reaction score
1,639
Location
Virginia
Unfortunately, SJWs have converted the courts to a sieve, not a solution. If the guy was arrested for this, at least in the US, and it sounds like where you are as well, they will be back out that afternoon.

You asked what others would do? It would have been a tag team effort with the wife. Would have turned all exterior lights on with a voice command while she called 911 (emergency) and I went to confront him with a very bright flashlight and something else. He would have been instructed to lay down until the police got there. About that time the wife would be outside for backup, probably with 911 still on the phone. In the small town we live in, the police know our house because we have "Thin Blue Line" signs, they refer to it as the "Thin Blue Line House". So response tends to be good.
 

TVille

Getting comfortable
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
672
Reaction score
1,639
Location
Virginia
They don't care about cameras and don't care about lights coming on.

Please share the video of you confronting him and what you discussed!
They don't care about motion lights coming on. If they think someone turned them on, they will likely meander on off, not run off, just kind of walk off. This is one reason we don't have any motion lights outside.
 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
24,870
Reaction score
48,508
Location
USA
Yep, they have been desensitized to that. That is why it is good to add home automation to have a delay or have one light come on and then 20 seconds later another to give that appearance it wasn't motion activated.

Or audio like this person posted where he had the audio on a delay from the motion lights and you can see how scared the perps were and took off in different directions and then turned around lol.

My backyard has a motion light that is on all night on dim, but gets brighter with motion, and then a few more motion activated lights, and then audio on my camera with a delay to give the impression like they woke me and I am watching them.

 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
24,870
Reaction score
48,508
Location
USA
This is the second crack-head that I have caught. The first one I managed to hang onto until the police arrived to take him away. They let me know that he would be back on the street later that afternoon.
I've given the police video on four occasions and nothing good has ever come of it.
One officer said that it was reasonable that a guy like this ending up with a broken nose.
That is the sad thing - most of these perps are back on the street before they cop is even off their shift. It is why most do not even follow up or do anything when people call in an incident like this.

Mama said knock you out.

 
Top