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CCTV good to ID the scrotebag who keeps keying my dads car

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CCTV good to ID the scrotebag who keeps keying my dads car

i have a computer running 2 cameras. uses some fancy software where you can run virtual trip wires and such. can be viewed anywhere in the world to. with what ever camera you get you WILL need some lighting. a pir can be set up really well if you take your time and wont come on every time someone walks past.
 
i used this place
http://www.iviewcameras.co.uk/Digital+Video+Recorders/cat.asp

their website has a lot of useful info, including a lens calculator so that you get the right focal length lens for the job. They will answer questions by phone or e-mail. £300 to 350 will get you a digital video recorder and 3 or 4 cameras for continuous coverage. The quality was plenty good enough to ID the people damaging my car.

Don't mount the cameras too high or all you will see is the tops of their heads. Mount them too low or too easy to get at and they will be paint sprayed to block the lens.

The people damaging the car will probably cover thier faces when near the car so a general view of the car will probably be all you need. With a couple of other cameras covering the pavement and/or drive to catch the faces before they cover up.

Most cameras have an IR capability to provide illumination at night. they glow slightly and may be enough to persuade them not to damage the car. If you mount a camera indoors to look out through a window, cover the IR leds with black tape or the IR will reflect back from the glass and you won't see anything. Good street lighting or a PIR floodlamp will provide enough light for most cameras to function without the IR.

If you do get video of damage being done be aware that any defence lawyer will say that the damage was already done. The best way round that is to walk round the car every time you park it and give a thumbs up to the camera. Same when you are going to drive it away, with a thumbs down if damaged. That will stand up in court as evidence that you checked the car and it wasn't damaged when parked up but was damaged the next morning - if you have video of somebody near the car during the night, that should be enough to convict.
 
Am i correct in assuming john going for all this Data protection act and civil liberties bull that so long as you are only installing the cameras to monitor an area (including the street directly in front of your house) you don't need to register with the data protection offices, Unless you are using it to deliberately try to catch someone in the act (eg an employee stealing from the till) for which you installed the cameras... and only view the footage yourself/ make available to the police?
 
Hellcat said:
Dogs can already see in the dark :rolleyes:
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but they can't look up.....
shaun-of-the-dead.jpg



Andy Monty said:
Am i correct in assuming john going for all this Data protection act and civil liberties bull that so long as you are only installing the cameras to monitor an area (including the street directly in front of your house) you don't need to register with the data protection offices, Unless you are using it to deliberately try to catch someone in the act (eg an employee stealing from the till) for which you installed the cameras... and only view the footage yourself/ make available to the police?
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i don't think RIPA applies here...john?
 
Jai said:
i don't think RIPA applies here...john?
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TBA Jai i don't think it does but its worth checking since we have a knowledgeable person present (try not to let it go to your head John ;) :p) since rules and legislation seems to move at silly paces and change with little or no warning


last thing Arc or the police want is the CPS to turn round and say its inadmissible in court despite having a full face shot stanley knife in hand and its timed and date stamped..... Along with the fact he's stood in the dock in the same Hoodie and tracksuit bottoms as he/she has on in the video (y)
 
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as far as i know you need a sign on the wall within view of the area under surveillance. it needs to show info on who it was set up by and for what reason.

at the end of the day you dont want a camera thats hidden (only good for seeing who it is and taking the law into your own hands which most will do ;))
a good camera with a nice red led will stop even drunk people.

my cameras are really high quality black and white ex shop cameras. they have auto iris so work really well in low light. no quality loss that you get from them little cameras that just up the brightness digitally.
 
the advice I was given is that CCTV set up for the prevention or detection of crime does not need any registration or signage. The video obtained should not be shown to anyone except police and those directly involved ie the car owners.

The admissibility of any evidence can be challenged in court, in those circumstances the court will need to decide if the evidence was so unfairly obtained that it is not in the interests of justice to allow it to be used. In this case with a previous history of criminal damage at the premises (it was reported to the police wasn't it ? if not report it NOW ) and the vehicle parked as far off the road as is possible there shouldn't be a problem.



Forgot to say before about advantages of a digital recorder. You can get 4 cameras on screen at once which (in my case) showed the people on the path, then covering thier faces, then damaging the car. You can also get a full screen image from any one of the cameras. The digital time stamp in every frame shows that the images were taken on the same occasion and that the images have not been altered.
 
Thanks for that John tallys with what a CCTV installer told me (y)


and with the DVR if you slightly AV savvy you can put it somewhere in the house if all the TV's run off a signal booster connect the component out to the "sky/input" side of an old VCR switch the VCR to AV and plug the signal output into the input of the booster via a Y splitter so you have both the aerial signal and the VHS output going to each TV that way you can tune each TV in the house to watch the live feed

((not only that you can give the police a more technologically simple copy of the footage for them to view just select the time and date then press record on the VHS as you play the clip hell i need the instruction manual sometimes for the DVR....))


so if i'm laid in bed i can flick the TV on and see whats going on likewise if im sat in the conservatory i can see who is knocking on the front door without having to get off my lazy arris....
 
just to follow this thread up..

HDD based DVR 4 channel recorder
2x 1/3" Sharp cameras with IR lights.
some wire
some plugs
a lot of faffing about on my part..

cameras copy.jpg

indoor_wiring copy.jpg

wiring copy.jpg

dvr_recorder copy.jpg

monitor_recorder copy.jpg

and top it off, network link to the IP module of the DVR..

laptop_monitor copy.jpg

320GB HDD is good for around 10 days of constant recording before it begins overwriting.
 
an additional drive can be easily added and run side by side, it can move onto that in that case - but the chance of my dad going on holiday for 2 weeks, is small !
 
Papa P said:
How much did it all cost you?
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DVR ~ £80
cameras ~ £40 (x2)
cable ~ £15
HDD for DVR ~ £20

then a couple of quid for bits and bobs (sockets, mains and av cable)

custard said:
only issue i see(i think) is that angle may give you top of the head shots?
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on the upper camera, yes - but the lower one is about a foot above head height, and there is no way to approach this camera without being seen by it or the upper one.
 
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