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Jobsite hidden cameras

8K views 27 replies 22 participants last post by  OhhEnnEmm 
#1 ·
Have any of you used hidden exterior, weather proof, battery powered cams to keep an eye on new builds before the house is weather tight and locked up?

I may be in a position soon where I'll want to keep an eye on a disgruntled neighbor, who is heavily against a house being built. I remember a buddy saying he uses trail cams to track buck and was thinking maybe there is something meant for construction sites.

The ideal cam would be something camouflaged I could mount in a tree covering a large portion of the front yard. It would be motion set to record 5-10 mins once triggered by movement. I'd want to set it so it records evenings and weekends only as the subs would be setting it off constantly. If it sent me a message through text or email so I could view it in real time...even better.

I'll have no trespassing signs/police take notice and will inform the beat locals before we start that we may have an issue next door but the site isn't ideal for temp fencing.

So has anyone used these types of camera? How's the quality, ease of use?
 
#11 · (Edited)
Did he give em the finger??

Contractor friend of mine does a lot of work and is located in Cicero Illinois which is a pretty high crime area.

He had cameras everywhere around his shop where he keeps his equipment and sure enough it got broken into one night...had a bunch of nice videos of the people committing the act that he showed the police and they basically said “that’s nice” we’ll keep our eyes out for them. Well it’s been about five years I guess their still keeping an eye out for them..

When somebody breaks into a car or building and steals tools and such it is not considered a high priority item for the police to really run down and search for the criminals.

About the only time video footage is any good is when they rob other businesses or homes in the area and get caught within a reasonable amount of time


Cameras don’t hurt anything however I would spend more time and effort into preventing them from getting into the place. That plus having excellent insurance to cover your losses



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Here there is a local family that has laundry mats.. with good cams in them.. When they get robbed they don't go to the police. They have the bois ask around and locate the scumbag knock the door and have him return the money or get pounded out! The cams they use are better than the ones the local banks use. Over here the banks get robbed all the time. We have gambling rooms all over with high end cams on the outside with face recognition software and the door will never open unless you are the right face.
 
#7 ·
Alot of the larger general contractors use camera systems that are fully exposed for two reasons. 1) it let's people know they are being watched and therefore helps to deter and 2) you don't get into any issues where legally people didn't know they were being recorded.
 
#10 ·
Contractor friend of mine does a lot of work and is located in Cicero Illinois which is a pretty high crime area.

He had cameras everywhere around his shop where he keeps his equipment and sure enough it got broken into one night...had a bunch of nice videos of the people committing the act that he showed the police and they basically said “that’s nice” we’ll keep our eyes out for them. Well it’s been about five years I guess their still keeping an eye out for them..

When somebody breaks into a car or building and steals tools and such it is not considered a high priority item for the police to really run down and search for the criminals.

About the only time video footage is any good is when they rob other businesses or homes in the area and get caught within a reasonable amount of time


Cameras don’t hurt anything however I would spend more time and effort into preventing them from getting into the place. That plus having excellent insurance to cover your losses



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
I have lots of trail cameras and security camera systems. I would get a 1080 system. I put the trail cams out where I farm and to see animals and sometimes people stealing sweetcorn. I had a issue with 2 punks from the trailer park stealing stuff at my house which it when I got my first camera system. Its 720 and sucks it your more then 30ft away. Finally got the jerk on camera and called the cops. The cops would "watch out for them". I caught them one night but my wife yelled as I took off running after them so she gave them a goo head start and I lost them. Police did nothing again but the idiots went into the public park and trashed the place and ripped down the security cameras there. Since they destroyed the public park I knew the cops would take them in now. Nope, nobody cared less. One day me and the wife were in the post office and I see the mexican kid that did it roller blading down the street. I leave the wife there and she call the cops and I got int the car and stayed back to see where he goes. He finally spots me and runs and I loose him but he goes 2 houses down from the post office to the "mexican drug house" its called here in town and just sits on the porch. I called the cops and they finally came and picked them up. The court was supposed to pay my wife $100 in damaged but its been going on over 2 years now. The mexican kid was expelled from school so he just walked around town stealing and destroying stuff. The dumb white kid thought the mexican kid was cool and did whatever he did.
 
#13 ·
So, if you were a white guy that stole back some stolen stuff off of a minority's drug house. Don't you think the authorities would be after your butt in no time. Full charges filed, full time in jail, you and your wife would be harassed until you had to move out of town. You could probably count on getting your house vandalized and torched. All your pets killed, plus a few gun shots in your direction.

Oh, I forgot. In my area, the crooks would get a holiday named after them, the keys to the city, plus welfare for life.
 
#15 ·
I use OxBlue. Have used earth cam in the past. 1080 closed loop wi-fi system I can access from my phone at any time. Can zoom in from 1000 yds away and see the bolts that attach the license plate to the vehicle.
Then tell the authorities I have a gun and I will be engaging the suspects. The police come VERY quickly.


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#16 ·
April 15 2009 I had a little over $12,000 of scaffolds, walk boards. braces , side arms, and mud pans stolen off the job.

The local Sheriffs dept in that county (Stokes co NC) didnt ever seem to interested in finding the people who did it

Within 4 days I found out who did it, I called the investigator and he simply told me to leave it alone

The next day I found out where my stuff was, I called the investigator and told him to have a deputy there, that I was on my way to get my stuff...

He told me "Mr Hooker, if you go down there and load that stuff up and pull out in the road, we will have to arrest you"
 
#23 ·
The crack head who stole my stuff was a pivot man for the sheriffs dept. They were in the middle of a three year drug investigation and they werent going to pluck him out over my stuff...I get it but...

I told them to go ahead and leave him alone, I didnt care, but I wanted my stuff back.

....the real kicker was the crack head...that bastard is a brick mason too
^^^ and hes still using my stuff :censored:
Everything I own is marked, the investigators reason for not letting me have my stuff back was, although everything was marked, scaffolds and walk boards are stamped with 'product#' not serial #.
cameras wont help you in Hick Town
Jesus H. - this is the reality folks.
 
#17 · (Edited)
The crack head who stole my stuff was a pivot man for the sheriffs dept. They were in the middle of a three year drug investigation and they werent going to pluck him out over my stuff...I get it but...

I told them to go ahead and leave him alone, I didnt care, but I wanted my stuff back.

....the real kicker was the crack head...that bastard is a brick mason too
 
#21 ·
Yeah, we get the same response here about camera footage from the cops now. But quite a few years back I had some chit stolen and a buddy spotted it at the local college of all places and called me up. I called the cop on the case and he called the college cops and they called the judge and then the county sheriff got involved and by the time they showed up with the warrant there were eight cops including a statey for good measure. Kid fessed up to all of it and ratted out his buddies with that many cops crowding his dorm room. Got most of my stuff back and then for a couple years I got a monthly check for restitution to cover lost work!
 
#25 ·
Nowadays it's better to deal with thieves on a personal level, most police depts. don't do squat about getting your stuff back. Most bad guys aren't going to call the cops on you for coming after your stuff. Give 'em a good beat down if the situation is right, they'll remember that more than a night in jail which about all they will get from the cops if caught.
 
#26 ·
In ONTARIO, Canada,by law you must clearly post warnings of surveillance video AND you must insure they cover ONLY the property you are responsible for. I find night shots from my own (pretty expensive) trail came a little unsatisfying. On the other hand there has been zero damage or theft since the signs went up! I leave the cam obviously in sight and out of reach. So far, I do think it is the signage that is protecting me! :laughing::clap:
 
#27 · (Edited)
Hey there MattK, I believe I can help you with this one. The perfect camera would be quite small so it can't be detected but also be of a proper quality. When it comes to picking a camera most people don't know where and how to locate it. I've stumbled on this useful article (https://spycamerashd.com/how-to-hide-a-camera/) that explains in details about the installation of the cam, where to place it(various options are available). I hope you find this useful!
 
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