Morning Neighborhood Car Thieves

archedraft

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Car checkers have been a very frequent for the past year. Lots of cars in my surrounding area have been rummaged through (if unlocked) and stolen (if the keys were left in car :banghead: ) this year. These videos were taken a few days ago. In regards to the Driveway camera, what are your thoughts on how it captured? There is enough light to make set it to color mode, if that would have helped. Any other suggestions? Naturally, I would like to add more cameras now.

Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS

Dahua IPC-E3541F-AS-M
 

Ssayer

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I'll NEVER understand people leaving their cars unlocked. Leaving keys in the car?? Heck, they're begging someone to come steal it...

On the bright side, the "mostly peaceful car rumagers" were at least wearing their Covid masks... the last I looked cams can't look through masks, so... The clothing should be easy enough to identify though.
 

archedraft

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I'll NEVER understand people leaving their cars unlocked. Leaving keys in the car?? Heck, they're begging someone to come steal it...
I know right. I sent the videos to the police, in the event it might help. The officer said that this year alone 35 cars have been stolen. That doesn't include the cars that were left open where items were taken including multiple firearms... Who leaves a firearm in an unlocked car? It's no wonder why they keep coming back, easy targets.
 

CCTVCam

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It looks to me as though it's mounted too high and the shutter speed is too low. I also think you need a wide view straight down the drive. They crossed the cross view very quickly so were only in frame for a few secs and you had nothing capturing a close up of any activity that did take place where the cars are parked. I would have liked to have seen a 6ft max camera mounted looking straight down the drive to the road and covering the car.

Also, are you sure these are car theives? They walked straight past the car. They look like teenagers and given one has a torch, I'd say it's more likely they were garden hoppers.
 
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archedraft

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It looks to me as though it's mounted too high and the shutter speed is too low. I also think you need a wide view straight down the drive. They crossed the cross view eveyr quickly so were only in frame for a few secs and you had nothing capturing a close up of any activity that did take place where the cars are parked. I would have liked to have seen a 6ft max camera mounted looking straight down the drive to the road and covering the car.
Thanks for your input, it is appreciated. The shutter speed is currently 1/30. Are you thinking 1/60 or 1/120 would have been better? Is B&W better than Color for night? I agree with it mounted too high, I think it's currently at 8-8.5 feet. Originally, I was using this camera to capture footage of the overall area, but then zoomed it in a bit so I could still capture video at the end of the driveway and also get somewhat closer up shots of people. I need a second camera as I am trying to do too much with one. Below is a snapshot of the garage, I agree that one right at 6' in the center would be the best. I am sure the wife wouldn't go for that look though.

Also, are you sure these are car theives? They walked straight past the car. They look like teenagers and given one has a torch, I'd say it's more likely they were garden hoppers.
A neighbor down the street caught them and called the cops. They got spooked and ran away using my yard to cut through to some wood to hide from the cops. A couple of minutes later I captured video of the patrol car driving by. He went back and forth for 20 or so minutes.
 
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MrSurly

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I'll NEVER understand people leaving their cars unlocked. Leaving keys in the car?? Heck, they're begging someone to come steal it...
You.... don’t understand being forgetful?
Must be awesome to never forget anything.
 

Ssayer

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Are you serious? You're equating this with forgetting anything???? How many times have you forgotten and left your kids in the car overnight?? I sure as heck hope your answer is NEVER..... We're talking about locking up something that is a major investment... Sheesh..............
 

Mike A.

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I can understand not locking in some cases. When I lived in kind of a bad area that was the accepted approach - unlocked with nothing left in it. If they saw that they wouldn't mess with it; otherwise, they'd bust a window or pop out the door locks just to check. You could walk through the area and every day you'd see multiple cars with busted windows belonging to people who hadn't yet learned that lesson.

But, no, I never left or forgot the keys. ; )
 

kayvee3

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Leaving a car unlocked is unthinkable in this country, and it is something we would never forget to do. Leaving anything remotely of value visible in a locked car is also a big no no.

So car checkers are an unknown concept here, if they are at your car there are much larger intentions.
 
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catcamstar

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For starters, I put up this sign if people are continuously tresspassing on your property:

If only these two cams are covering your driveway, I would either suggest you put your car more insight of the camera. Also some floodlight with moving sensors may increase the visibility (and possibility to go to full color), on the other hand, you are actually helping these perks as they don't need their torches to lit your car.
 

MrSurly

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Are you serious? You're equating this with forgetting anything???? How many times have you forgotten and left your kids in the car overnight?? I sure as heck hope your answer is NEVER..... We're talking about locking up something that is a major investment... Sheesh..............
Are you serious? You’re equating forgetting to lock the car door with LEAVING THE KIDS IN THE CAR OVERNIGHT??? I sure as heck hope you’ll actually discover real debate technique rather than sophistry.
Do you lock your car door EVERY SINGLE TIME you step away? You stop by the house, but you are leaving again in moments... do you lock the car? Of COURSE you do, perfect always is, perfect always does. Go on living the perfect life where you never have to make mistakes. I’ll be sure to be jealous of your perfection.
Somehow I suspect that your car or truck happens to have ‘proximity auto-locking’ so you don’t have to remember to push the button anyway. Makes it all the easier to be able to say Well, I NEVER!....
btw: how is forgetting to lock the door different from forgetting in general?
I’ll remain among the fallible.
 
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mat200

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Don't blame the victim....

My folks are forgetting things, so need to check if they remember to do things.

If someone does something evil to them - the blame goes to those doing the evil. ( I keep drilling into them not to trust emails / phone calls from the IRS / Microsoft / Africa / China / Social Security .. etc... hopefully they keep remembering - and I ALWAYS give them time when they call me and ask me questions on email / phone calls... )
 

Ssayer

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This is a quote that I learned long ago...

Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

Another of my favorites...

There’s one simple guideline for responding to trolls: don’t feed them. Ignore them, don’t react to them, don’t give them the attention they want.

and so, another troll hits the ignore list. Enjoy your life feeding off of others...
 

MrSurly

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Now, there’s another new debate technique!
Oh well.
Door checkers absolutely make livid. I recall being at a hotel in CA and at 2:30AM there were five or six men on bicycles checking every door handle in the parking lot. I had to leave at this time every day and everyday they were circulating. I wished so much I could do something about it. Nothing could be done, the police were not interested at all.
 
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