Interesting LEO problem, help please!

[IPconfused]

Local Law Enforcement (LEO) is asking me (really desperate), what is the most effective method to mount camera and remotely view suspected drug traffic. Not interested in tag numbers or people, but just a car count over time. No internet available, have AC power and a 4G network card and laptop. Location of proposed mount is approximately 50 meters from subject, an old barn with free, to LEO, access. Very low budget for this, must be easy set up and take down, and minimum trips to location. Camera will have to be painted or disguised in some manner. Idea is to establish number of vehicles entering and leaving premises at what time, day, etc. Anything else is negotiable. Based on lens charts an 8-12 mm lens seems to be about right. IP camera with on camera storage would be simplest except for trips to change card and lack of any remote alerts or monitoring. Expect most trips to be at night, but we are only trying to get presence of vehicle, time and duration of stay. Any creative solutions out there?

IPConfused

 

[bp2008]

You say no internet available, but isn't that what the 4G network card is for?

A laptop could run Blue Iris to record video from a concealed camera. Hikvision makes a couple covert pinhole cameras, though that may not be necessary. You might get away with an ordinary camera, and an ordinary camera would make it easier to get that 12mm lens you want.

Since your connection is cellular it likely has ridiculous data limits so lots of remote viewing would not be ideal. You'd be best off if you could get motion detection set just right to capture a clip of each car, and then you could count the cars relatively easily.

For remote access to the system behind 4G, port forwarding is likely not an option, so you'll need to use tunneling software like Logmein Hamachi to access the Blue Iris web interface, or you could just install Teamviewer and remote control the laptop that way.

 

[digger11]

With Blue Iris it would also be easy to clone the camera and set it up to record continuously at say one frame every 5 seconds, giving a time lapse video that could be reviewed to achieve the stated goal of "presence of vehicle, time and duration of stay"

 

[nayr]

ever thought about a simple game, wildlife camera?
http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Reaction-Camera-Records-Sounds/dp/B00G7JALBG/ref=sr_1_9?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1408737591&sr=1-9&keywords=zoom

 

[icerabbit]

Makes me think of my old analog camera in a light bulb fixture

Wildlife camera would probably be a no go at 50 yards, unless you can do some type of continuous imaging with them every 20-30 secs? (don't know) I have a pretty common one that is supposed to be a few megapixels. Wildlife / motion detection is probably in the 30ft range. Never quite measured it or paid attention to it. I'm thinking maybe 10-15yards. Image quality is sub-par.

I don't know about a pinhole, and 50 yards.

I was thinking $100 12mm bullet with IR off, but one would need to look at the target area width to make a determination (use ipcam calculator).

To avoid install issues, camera and other related equipment could be pre-installed and camouflaged in other equipment found in and around barns. Property owner could maybe do some repairs, clean-up etc. so there's a bit of activity and stuff around for a few days, prior to getting help from one or two other people to move bulky items

As far as recording. Whatever works software wise. Maybe manufacturer software.

Live viewing and monitoring/counting I think is too much data unless they have access to unlimited data on an account, and are happy with a limited quality substream.

 

[nayr]

Expensive but this camera does license plates @ up to 70' http://www.amazon.com/Reconyx-HyperFire-License-Capture-Camera/dp/B004FFAYDO

The same brand also has some regular game cameras that claim to have a motion detection range of 80'; and they can be hooked to cellular networks..

Were talking about the LEO's; where just about everyone.. including the people there trying to monitor are often more intelligent.. I suspect a game camera is something there all capable of operating tho and they probably have personal experience with cheap ones... Are you prepared to train and support them using BI or some NVR? I bet most of them have a blinking 12:00 on there VCR @ home.

I am keen on this idea because it requires no additional hardware, power, etc.. you can put it someplace most appropriate very quickly without running wires and the learning curve is easy for your LEO's.. Might be able to put it much much closer than you can with a wired camera which would make the range issues alot less of an issue.

and yes most of the higher end ones are fully capable of taking time-lapse photos every few seconds to make sure you dont miss anything; with a huge memory card it should go for a long time before overwriting.. you just need stills; video just requires more hardware/storage and more importantly time to review.

As for the cost of these high end game cameras, Its not like LEO's have an unlimited budget for the war on drugs; oah wait.. NM, if there hard on funds they could always sell one of there spare tanks

 

[icerabbit]

Mine's just the $75~$100 one by Bushnell (iirc) that was for sale at sams over the holiday season the other year. Certainly not as advanced as the above one.

Indeed pretty easy to operate once you do it once or twice. Just need to get the hang of the few buttons on the inside that go through the various settings. You can preset it all, leave it on, then just strap it to a tree or something.

 

[IPconfused]

Thanks everyone:
I appreciate all the suggestions and comments.
I have and have used a upper end game camera to watch my motorcycles at a remote barn, also used one to monitor trespassers at our remote farm property worked fairly well but best with multi-cam install.
Nothing is impossible but given the lack of sufficient budget and expertise, the game camera(s) seems the most practical.
Unfortunately, when dealing with local LEO what's a major priority today can be on the back burner tomorrow. I think I'll pass along everyone's suggestions and see how committed they are. Not loaning ant equipment though.

Thanks again everyone.