Vehicle Surveillance System

th3magpi3 · September 17, 2019

Hey guys,

Wanted to get your input on what if any sort of surveillance systems you are using for your vehicle.

Long story short, some scrub broke into my truck at 5:30 AM late last week. I had left my vehicle unlocked after carrying both arms full of groceries up to my house. I pressed the FOB lock button once in my home but was out of range apparently.

Cut to early morning, the thief broke in, stole a few hundred dollars worth of belongings and took off.

I have security camera footage of the theft happening, and even have their location and entire days GPS points as they stole a cellphone, but the police will not do a thing as they say I dont have enough evidence to get a search warrant on the thief (despite having exact location data from the phone they stole leading directly to the house they live in). How the location data from the stolen phone is not enough evidence is beyond me, but that seems to be the common theme with local law enforcement... Sigh.

I believe if I was able to provide clear footage of the thief it would be enough, but when you're filming from a few feet away in the dark, facial details aren't exactly HD.

That leads me to my question. I've seen videos like THIS ONE where somebody installs an Arlo HD wifi camera in their vehicle. Have any of you taken a similar approach after a break in, or have any tips. I'm super cheesed after the break in and am trying to protect myself in the future. The blame is fully on me for leaving my door unlocked, as we watched in the footage the thief and his lookout check about 10 other cars on the block that were locked and moved on. But I would very much like to be able to protect myself and gather quality evidence in the future should this happen again.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks all!

davester · September 17, 2019

Don't count on anything being "enough" evidence, up to and including a video of the person breaking a window of the truck, visibly removing something the truck, you running up and pinning him to the ground, and the police arriving in a continuous, unbroken video stream. Property crime like this is so far down the list of things cops will do something about, it's not funny anymore. Cops will only do something if the guy is at the car at that moment, and the guy will only be there if you are there to prevent him from leaving. And by something, I mean they will do a catch and release (load him in the car, and make you think they will charge him, but then just let him out at the police station). Once he's left, it becomes a "Well, talk to your insurance company.".

I've had the same problem with my truck in my driveway behind my house (leading to an alley). I'm going for prevention, and putting a gate across the driveway. Sure it's more of a hassle to get past, but it's prevention. And maybe an alarm of some kind of remote alarm to signal my phone if someone opens the gate.

Edited September 17, 2019 by davester

STRMTRPR · September 17, 2019

+1 for prevention vs false hope police will do anything.. it's unfortunate but it's the world we now live in.. I've been victim of property theft more than once. I too have video surveillance of entire property but I rely on deterrents - well placed motion activated security lights (brighter the better), wifi motion sensor in driveway which turns on lights inside the house.. and a loud hound dog that barks at anything that moves.

rah7777777 · September 17, 2019

I have front and rear 1080 dashcams. They record on motion for up to 8 hours after parking.

You could flip one around to get the interior and run a backup battery to make it last a long time. They are little so not very noticeable. But ultimately if they see it and take it with them, you are completely out. Where as those house cams could be on constant cloud backup.

th3magpi3 · September 18, 2019

Thanks for all the feedback. Might look into some deterrents. I’m thinking a huge motion activated flood light should do the trick.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

STRMTRPR · September 18, 2019

..I have 3 of these lights mounted in trees around my property I got at princess auto..3yrs old now - working great and super bright.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/led-solar-1-500-lumen-motion-light/A-p8718207e

wforrest08 · September 18, 2019

Thinking about this since you said you remote locked it the other thing to check is that all the doors lock with the remote/lock button. I found by dumb luck after I noticed it twice that my drivers rear doesn’t always lock for some reason and I have read on here about others with the same thing different doors.