Help me catch bad guys in the act

**kokomas** · 10-04-2012, 05:51 AM

Can someone please school me on security or spy cameras? My rental property is on a block that has gone to shit as unsavories moved into the multis on either side. Strangely, blocks nearby are flourishing. I don't live in the area but want to bombard the police and town with information (and complaints) about what is going on there. I think they will care because of the proximity of this block to the cultural center of town.

We have just rented to a nice young couple at a reduced rent and want to do what we can for them and the neighborhood.

Is there something easy i can stick on the porch to document what is going on? Remote/web access would be a plus. I have no idea what this stuff costs but we are cash constrained

**RShea** · 10-04-2012, 06:32 AM

There are tons of solutions- however you probably need to talk to the renters to see how cooperative they will be. Will they allow you to tie into their high speed internet service or if you will need your own installation for remote access. DVR to record a camera or 2 would probably be the best.

**Tuckerman** · 10-04-2012, 07:22 AM

How about a hunting cam?

**Jer** · 10-04-2012, 07:31 AM

First off - what's going on or what to you suppose is going on at the property?

**Hott Butt Mud** · 10-04-2012, 07:39 AM

Yep, we need some more information on the alleged crimes taking place in the vicinity.

**teletripper** · 10-04-2012, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by Hott Butt Mud

Yep, we need some more information on the alleged crimes taking place in the vicinity.

And pics of the renter chick.

**systemoverblow'd** · 10-04-2012, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by Jer

First off - what's going on or what to you suppose is going on at the property?

There's minorities near by... duh.

doughboyshredder · 10-04-2012, 08:11 AM

Funny, I am just working on a project like this for a bank owned property.

Anything "affordable" won't work, because the vandals will just destroy it. You either need a really high quality camera with good range that can be mounted where it would be "harder" to vandalize it, or you need a vandal resistant camera, or both, which gets pricy quick.

Most of the "DIY" stuff you're going to find isn't going to give you the picture quality that you need or the vandal resistance that you need.

I would call and talk to a security camera company, personally. I'm sure you have a lot of them around there.

**vinzclortho** · 10-04-2012, 09:25 AM

buy a german shepard and mount a camera to it's head.

**hutash** · 10-04-2012, 09:26 AM

Yeah, if the renter is hot get her to agree to a bedroom cam. Bonus point for one in the shower.

**iceman** · 10-04-2012, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by vinzclortho

buy a german shepard and mount a camera to it's head.

Or if it's near the water, sharks with lasers are always good.

**toast2266** · 10-04-2012, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by iceman

Or if it's near the water, sharks with lasers are always good.

If it's near water, you're probably better off mounting an automated garden hose. That should keep the riff-raff away.

**mud** · 10-04-2012, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

There's minorities near by... duh.

You mean Canadians?

**kokomas** · 10-04-2012, 11:26 AM

a whole lot of looking mean on the porch and street along with a good amount of drug deals during the day.

Not sure if renters are cool with sharing wifi, i will see

**AdironRider** · 10-04-2012, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by kokomas

a whole lot of looking mean on the porch and street along with a good amount of drug deals during the day.

Not sure if renters are cool with sharing wifi, i will see

A camera is not going to help because someone looked at you funny, and unless they are unloading pounds in the driveway, wont help with the alleged drug deals either.

**Jer** · 10-04-2012, 11:36 AM

Seriously I don't see how cameras (even expensive HD stuff) are going to help one bit. Getting high-quality images of guys looking mean isn't going to motivate the police to do much.

I'd think it would be more productive to go after the shithead landlords who rent to any scum who comes along than to try to get the scumbag tennants arrested. More scum is just gonna move in behind. I'm talking legal options here.

**mobygrape** · 10-04-2012, 11:42 AM

Agreed, try to work with the landlord. They may not be aware of what is going on. Have several neighbors do this.

Had a similar situation in my neighborhood. The folks causing the trouble were relatives of the landlord, so he did not want to do anything, but after several folks in the neighborhood spoke with him, and he saw himself the stupid stuff happening, he kicked them out.

**AdironRider** · 10-04-2012, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Jer

Seriously I don't see how cameras (even expensive HD stuff) are going to help one bit. Getting high-quality images of guys looking mean isn't going to motivate the police to do much.

I'd think it would be more productive to go after the shithead landlords who rent to any scum who comes along than to try to get the scumbag tennants arrested. More scum is just gonna move in behind. I'm talking legal options here.

I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the other landlords, but you do make a good point in that the OP should be routing this through them, and not the police who wont give a shit because of the meanies next door.

**Poop~Ghost** · 10-04-2012, 02:21 PM

What my neighbors did with an apartment building nearby that was run by a slum-lord about 10 years back was basically "legal harassment".

They were selling drugs out of a few of the rentals and some prostitution.

They all called the cops pretty much 3-4 times a day - every time they saw anything sketchy going on. They called the city inspector all the time - reporting the building and eventually the slum lord started getting fined so regularly that he got off his ass and evicted all the problem tenants.

**TomCrac** · 10-04-2012, 02:36 PM

My street is mixed single family home owners and rental properties. The worst offender rental property just happens to be across from my house (lucky me)... Really bad "renters"/dealers were in there ... Complain as we did ... The landlord/owner is a detective....go figure.

**WrongWay** · 10-04-2012, 03:03 PM

Isn't this one of those problems you can solve with a gun? Can't you just shoot your way out of this one?

**I've seen black diamonds!** · 10-04-2012, 04:47 PM

What makes them unsavories? You racist or something?

A couple friends of mine used to live downstairs from some- I believe this is the technical term- "crack whores." It wasn't the crack or the whoring that bothered my friends, but the regular shouting matches (including death threats) between the crack whores and the crack pimp. They called the cops regularly. The cops even showed up once or twice, but nothing changed until my friends provided evidence of crack baby neglect. Cops came with a warrant and arrested the lot. Problem solved.

**MakersTeleMark** · 10-04-2012, 05:49 PM

Well, there's the answer. Feed some rock to a kid and plant him across the street. Call 911.

**kokomas** · 10-04-2012, 06:12 PM

Yeah can try the landlord route but I'm pretty sure they know exactly what's going on. I think the legal harassment route is probably what we will have to do. It won't hurt to track the landlords down and find out though. Its their property value too