Mail theif

[MacNCheese]

I've been having trouble with my neighbours since we moved in two years ago. They play the stereo loud (so loud you can't hear your own TV). Long story cut short, I did the right thing and spoke to them and they abused me and slammed the door in my face. So I've started calling noise control, and as a result we get all sorts of retaliation - stones thrown on the roof during the night, door bell rung, tires let down, eggs thrown on the cars, online abuse, threats to kill...

So I installed some Dahua Bullet Cams. They noticed the cams and it has largely stopped. However I found the kid and his girlfriend taking something from my mail box. It was reported to the police and they questioned him. They said under New Zealand law unless he confesses or we can prove what he took then he can't be charged.

Here is the footage.

Camera one is a Dahua 2mp Bullet that I've had for a year.



Camera 2 is a Dahua Bullet 1.3mp that I've had for 18 months. As a side note I'm having problems withe the image being blurred, but that seems to happen with the lower end Dahua Bullets as I've got another one that does this too.

 

[Q™]

I can't see them take anything Dene and I don't believe that those cameras are going to provide you with evidential video. If you really want to obtain such video I'd suggest that you purchase one of those Huisun Mini PTZ 10x WondaCams; mount it in a correct location and dial the zoom in to 8 or 10x so you can determine who took what.

PS: Welcome aboard!

 

[MacNCheese]

Yeah I'm looking getting at a Huisun - just waiting now to get enough money to get the 2mp 10x zoom.

It does look like they do take something, you just can't tell what it is. The girl takes it out and hands it off to the guy - although they could have just been testing out to see what I can see!

Dene

 

[Q™]

It would be interesting to install a remotely activated lock which can't be detected from outside the mailbox. Unlock it for the mail person, but leave it locked all other time. Then let your camera record the hi-jinx when unauthorized persons attempt to open it.

 

[badmop]

I've had a suspicion of my mail being messed with... What I though about doing, making a letter that looks like it's important, or has cash, giftcards inside, etc. Now hide it as you walk to your mail box, get your actual mail out except for maybe some junk mail, and slip the important looking piece of mail in the box. Then if any of it disappears you know someone has messed with it, then you can tell the police you know what they took.

 

[Q™]

Put a GPS tracker in a small package in the mail box...and the the police..."I know what they took AND I know where they are."

 

[badmop]

You could put a camera in your mail box, in the corner where it films the mail, but it's not going to be too useful, you're gonna see a hand, and a stack of mail probably disappearing. I couldn't get the 2nd video to play, but based on the first video, it looks like the girl just grabbed your mail box to keep from falling down. It doesn't appear anything was removed, if it was, it was not a piece of mail I didn't see. I could be wrong, It wouldn't be the first time haha

 

[MacNCheese]

In the second video you can see her hand disappear into the mail box. I record 24/7 and watched from when I left for work and couldn't see anything being put in from when I left for work - it does make me wonder if they didn't take anything and were trying out to see exactly what the cameras could see. When questioned by the police he agreed it looked bad but said he didn't remember.

I've had a separate incident with this guy where I was home and my wife was at work with the car. They thought there was no one home and I believe they were casing the house. For some reason I didn't clip the video but this is what I saw.

This kid was standing outside looking up and down the street



This kid (the one in the earlier pictured video) was standing in the drive messaging someone



And this guy knocked on the door.



The guy at the door got a hell of a fright when I answered, and the others took off running. The one at the door had no excuse for being their and didn't really say much - I told him to leave and he left pretty quickly. He looked sheepish like he had been caught out.