How many of you live in a "safe" place?

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I was driving through my neighborhood late last night, and I noticed 5 garage doors left open, and it made me wonder how many of you have cams setup that are mostly for peace of mind or a hobby. I've lived places where if something isn't locked up or bolted down it's gone, but for the last decade I've never had a problem here. Ten years I've left my welding truck in the driveway without anything locked but the cab. Never a thing missing. Obviously we read about people who have door checkers, burglaries, cat thieves, etc., but what percentage of the forum is in that category?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Quiet here. Rural setting and sort of off the beaten path. There was one equipment theft that I know of about two years ago and a mail theft about four years ago, but that's it really. More of a peace of mind/early warning system as well as a hobby at this point. Hope it stays that way.

 

[wittaj]

You don't realize how much goes on in the middle of the night unless they rob you LOL.

Mine was more for peace of mind and early warning system (but that first box kit junk I bought alerted for everything so I turned off the alerts) but quickly turned into a hobby. Worse things I could be spending my money on LOL.

But now with BI, I have a true early warning system. Plus a security system LOL.

 

[Flintstone61]

One system I have as most of you know, has become more active over the past couple of years. It's the Condo property Virtually a hop skip and a jump from the Eastside of 35E in St. Paul, where the homicides are a weekly event if not more often than that.
We got Converter thefts, Break in's, Door checkers, Bob Marley rollers, Repeat visitors casing the parking lot for an easy converter chop job. Stolen cars dumped in the lot. Homeless people sleeping in cars in the lot. Geese shitting on my Sidewalk...Dammit all!
...and residents who hit each others cars in the parking lot, and say nothing, and Nasty-Grams on the bulletin boards....Why do I still work there....Jesus H .....

and then the Home machine in the Norwest Suburbs of Mpls.... which was insisted upon by my Housemate ( a former East Sider) Where if it wasn't bolted down it was gone.
So far in 2.5-3 yrs. weve seen a car slide into the snowbank in front of the house, leaving a mark in the lawn, only to be out done by a city plow, raking the entire corner down to dirt...LOL...
And one guy cutting thru the back yard, ( lived 2 doors down)
and a few branches falling in storms.
And spiders. lots of spiders.

 

[Flintstone61]

I think the glowing red eyeballs from the IR lights on the 3 cameras in front of the house, are somewhat of an passive deterrent in a sense.
Every 1st timer to the house mentions the Cameras in the driveway/ front porch, so yes they get noticed. It may keep the porch pirates from stopping by.

 

[wtimothyholman]

My neighborhood is considered pretty safe, but several of my neighbors have been burglarized, two of them have had their cars stolen, one has suffered through a home invasion, one has been mugged, one has had her catalytic converter stolen twice, and one has had a wanted felon in a stolen car attempt to assault her teenage daughter. And that doesn't include the dozens of door checkers that I have recorded along my street.

So "safe" tends to be a bit relative. I'm still doing better than people in a lot of major urban areas in the U.S.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

Quiet here. Rural setting and sort of off the beaten path. There was one equipment theft that I know of about two years ago and a mail theft about four years ago, but that's it really. More of a peace of mind/early warning system as well as a hobby at this point. Hope it stays that way.

This is pretty much where I'm at, except I'm in a city neighborhood. I decided I'd get a jump on surveillance before I really need it. I hate to acknowledge it, but I'm certain more crime is coming.

So "safe" tends to be a bit relative. I'm still doing better than people in a lot of major urban areas in the U.S.

This is very true. A home invasion here would put everyone on code red lock down. 7 years ago a lady got raped in her house in a neighboring town. Handguns were out of stock in our county and neighboring counties for 6 or 8 months.

You don't realize how much goes on in the middle of the night unless they rob you LOL.

Mine was more for peace of mind but quickly turned into a hobby. Worse things I could be spending my money on LOL.

I had a camera set to motion for 5 days over a weekend. From 10:30pm to 5am I might average 10 vehicles and sometimes a pedestrian before midnight. And a cat, saw one of those too.

Obviously it is a tiny sample, but I don't expect mutch action at all.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I think the glowing red eyeballs from the IR lights on the 3 cameras in front of the house, are somewhat of an passive deterrent in a sense.
Every 1st timer to the house mentions the Cameras in the driveway/ front porch, so yes they get noticed. It may keep the porch pirates from stopping by.

Does the cold or snow cause much issue with your cameras?

 

[spammenotinoz]

Initially peace of mind, when I am away. (eg: check for packages on the door step, check-in on the chickens) + deterrent, then a hobby just looking for events, possum, cats, owls.
My area is considered "safe", but not uncommon to get people (older teens, from out of area drive in with stolen cars, who then check for unlocked cars on the streets, open garages ect..
They are very brazen, wear masks (covid style, hoodies), really don't care about motion lights or being seen on cameras. They are really just looking for easy gains.
In my small street 8 out of 14 houses would have CCTV, certainly not the deterrent they used to be. Most are those wireless cameras and as they don't always record they are pretty useless.

 

[wittaj]

Does the cold or snow cause much issue with your cameras?

These cameras run warm, so cold isn't really an issue.

Snow makes the cameras better because light reflects off the snow. Improves night time performance!

 

[fergenheimer]

We have been truly blessed, so the cameras are more of a hobby . We have two bergs to worry about. One in Central Florida and one in West Texas.
In Florida, we live on a cul-de-sac that is off a dead end, that is off a dead end, that is off a dead end street . There are three police officers that live on those streets so nobody Ventures this way. We have a 6,000 acre swamp for a backyard. We had a Vietnam vet, that would wake up at 2:00 in the morning, unload a clip, yell "Airborne" and then go back to sleep. He sold his place to a guy that is just annoying but harmless. I think I preferred the Vietnam vet. Now a young kid that appears "challenged", unloads his airsoft gun just to make noise. He likes driving on the side of the road and making ruts. He makes guest appearances in other neighborhoods on the next door app but has been mostly harmless. In over 20 years, we have had no break-ins on our street. Knock on wood.
In Texas, We Are on a zig zag Road between two major roads, on one end you have to drive over two cattle guards so it appears you're on private property. You will probably have to dodge cows, and will definitely get your tires "dirty". Less than a dozen houses on this road. The sheriff's sister and cousin live on this road. I started with the cameras because one girl's boyfriend had sticky fingers. She has since dumped him and we have had no problems. However, the sheriff said that traffickers have started to notice our road. It is a shortcut between the two major roads that they use to avoid law enforcement. I don't think that they want to stop in our neighborhood. They want to keep going to wherever they're going to stay. We have seen no trafficing in my cameras so far, again knock on wood. The cameras will not stop anybody from stealing anything. They are just a means to collect evidence, hopefully.

 

[fergenheimer]

One system I have as most of you know, has become more active over the past couple of years. It's the Condo property Virtually a hop skip and a jump from the Eastside of 35E in St. Paul, where the homicides are a weekly event if not more often than that.
We got Converter thefts, Break in's, Door checkers, Bob Marley rollers, Repeat visitors casing the parking lot for an easy converter chop job. Stolen cars dumped in the lot. Homeless people sleeping in cars in the lot. Geese shitting on my Sidewalk...Dammit all!
...and residents who hit each others cars in the parking lot, and say nothing, and Nasty-Grams on the bulletin boards....Why do I still work there....Jesus H .....

and then the Home machine in the Norwest Suburbs of Mpls.... which was insisted upon by my Housemate ( a former East Sider) Where if it wasn't bolted down it was gone.
So far in 2.5-3 yrs. weve seen a car slide into the snowbank in front of the house, leaving a mark in the lawn, only to be out done by a city plow, raking the entire corner down to dirt...LOL...
And one guy cutting thru the back yard, ( lived 2 doors down)
and a few branches falling in storms.
And spiders. lots of spiders.

Years ago, I spent a week in Eden Prairie, about this time of the year. The Canadian geese were so thick you could not avoid walking through their droppings. You would just wipe off your feet before you went into a building and hope for the best.

 

[Flintstone61]

Does the cold or snow cause much issue with your cameras?

Night vision is great with a good snowpack.

 

[mat200]

FYI - I started here due to troubles from a drug den next door .. the drug den was finally closed up, but that took some evidence to present to the appropriate people in charge in the city.

The people who were part of the trouble, probably just got pushed around to another location ..

 

[SJGUSMC21]

About 5 years ago I woke up with my wife standing next to our bed in tears and just about in shock. LSS, some POS followed her home and when she pulled into the drive way, he parked in front of our house, got out, and ran into our drive way yelling and screaming at her next to the car. He finally left and she opened the garage door and pulled in. Seems he was parked at the main 4 way intersection and she kept waiting on him to turn, and when he did nothing she went around him. Guess that set his drug induced state off. Now there are several things she could have done, and I am not going to hash thru that right now. I did call the police and her description of the truck was completely off. The neighbors across the street, their door camera caught enough of the pic that I could mostly make out what kind of vehicle it was and located where he lived. Lets just say the 'young POS man' and I had a chat. Shortly after that he was evicted from his 'parent's house and hasn't been back. Yeap, drug problem and apparently after talking to several neighbors he was well known for it.

So that is when I decided I would go the camera route. That, and I have two young daughters, so felt the need to do so. As for a safe neighborhood, I haven't felt the need to CC since we moved here. Doesn't mean I don't, just we feel safe here. Very much so.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

These cameras run warm, so cold isn't really an issue.

Snow makes the cameras better because light reflects off the snow. Improves night time performance!

I assumed it wasn't much of an issue, but I have had electronics start having problems 10 or 15 degrees above their low temp rating.

 

[DanDenver]

Peace of mind. No notable incidents. But to think it can’t happen would be naive on my part. I have had bad things happen at other houses I have owned.
When we are out of town, being able to monitor the pets/garden (for watering frequency) is super helpful.
Plus if we are running errands or out of town, I know immediately if someone steps off the sidewalk and approaches the house.
Same for the backyard, if they hop the fence or open the gate I know right away.

It is a poor mans alarm system, meaning that if I don’t have my phone on me and I don’t act immediately then I could miss the live incident. But between my wife and I, not having at least one phone near us has yet to occur. I carry the police non-emergency number everywhere I go so I can have them respond if needed (the 911 number routes you to your current physical location - you must know the non-emergency number if you want to call your own local police department when out traveling around).

 

[DanDenver]

I assumed it wasn't much of an issue

It is not an issue. Do you live in an extreme weather location like Alaska?

If this concern bothers you, they sell cameras that have heaters built in. Its all about your budget and what your local installation challenges are

 

[Sybertiger]

You don't realize how much goes on in the middle of the night unless they rob you LOL.

^^^ 10,000% true.

I recently installed a system at my parents' house. I feel we've seen things that you never would have known about....IN THE DAYTIME. Kids going into the backyard to steal bricks that weren't nailed down....neighbors taking their pig for a walk in parents' yard...utility worker walking to the back of the house that you'd never have know were there. They live in an ungated higher end (than mine) neighborhood (Atlanta suburbs) but there have been at least a couple of break-ins at neighbors homes, one of which was across the street and they nabbed probably $80K in stolen property.

My neighborhood (Orlando suburbs) is a one-way in/out community which I think contributes to it being less prone to crime. However, years ago when I had my house built, the very first night in the home someone stole a couple of newly planted Sago palm bushes ($25 each) and one week later at night someone cut the top of girlfriends convertible to get into the car. What a start! Anyhow, the police said my neighborhood was probably the quietest off all of them in the City. But what kind of low-life steals plants LOL. That was long before home camera systems. However, to present day I've seen door checkers come through, bears walking around (rare in my parts). Amazing how many people don't lock their car doors...SMH!

 

[Coal_Cracker]

I'd say I live in a relatively safe place. Farmlands and urban sprawl. I have lived here for about 2.5 years now seems like typical hooligan crap. We have three streets in our development one is a loop street with two enterence/ exits, the other is a cul de sac. On the bottom of the hill there are town houses and up top all single family homes. When we first moved here the neighbor was a heroin user he had three OD's he was in his late 20's lived with mom she wasn't around much. So there used to be alot of traffic to the house. About a year and half ago they moved. Now I have police officers on either side of me. Most everyone who lives here has newborns to elementary aged kids.
I hear of peoples cars getting broke into from time to time, apparently my house had a robbery while the previous owner lived here. Was it for real or an insurance job? I have no idea.

I basically have gotten into this for security and hobby. I have personally had been robbed 4 times at 4 different homes. 1st time was my bicycle when I was an early teen, 2nd time was my car stereo at my moms apt building, 3rd time was my 400 EX 4 wheeler from my grandpa's house while I was living there. And the 4th time my house was robbed while I was working out of town. That one was 7k worth of mechanics tools and my Warn winch for my Jeep. I was more pissed about the Winch than anything I'm still bitter about that.
I also have little ones that I'd like to keep an eye on as well as security for the home. We have an elementary school basically in our backyard so I'd also like to keep an eye on who is coming and going in the neighborhood. Alot of people park on our street for drop off and pick up.