Help me catch a thief!

I want something at a decent price, don’t want to spend thousands but I also want something that can at least capture a decent picture. I also want to be able to record things while I’m not at home.
Questions:
What will the range be like of the camera signal?
Is there some software needed to record onto hard drive?
What prices am I looking at?
Is the ip camera the best route, or is there something else?
Click to expand...

I would also be interested to know more. Anyone have further info on the above?
 
Even if you catch the person, the changes are that he would have sold the previously stolen goods.

Personally I wouldn't replace any of the goods. Just take the money from everyones paychecks (divided equally), at the end of the month, to buy new equipment. When queried, simply let them know that this will happen every time something goes missing. At this stage they will start ratting each other out, or start to police your place for you.
 
Find out where your local Municipality's Electricity Security Division is located and pay them a visit. Chat to the guys about what it is you want. Im betting they will be able to help... Probably find a few free-lancers to do the job for you as well...

toady :D
 
A manufacturing company my dad worked for had theft problems too.
They bought a new nylon harness for lifting heavy stuff on their overhead crane and it dissapeared the next day. We're talking several thousand rands worth of harness.

The management did the usual interrogation thing and got absolutely nowhere so they told the employees that there will be no salary increases or bonuses at the end of the year unless the harness is returned.
The next morning it magically re-appeared (thrown onto the property over a fence).

I can almost garauntee you that the other employees know who it is but they won't talk. However they will talk if it's going to affect their pockets - trust me. :D
They'll gang up and go and beat the crap out of the culprit with their own hands if he doesn't sort it out - they just need an incentive.
 
Or put up a few "dummy" cameras and let them know that there will be live recordings...

but like dominic said - this is an area with big legal problems, and if not done right, will give you more financial woes...

Best to find out what your legal status etc is before doing surveillance options.
 
Ja, I think Paul_S's idea is great. Just tell them they will all be getting a pay cut from next month if anything else goes missing, they wont let one guy steal stuff if it will affect them. And if they do, well hey, you get to make the money back in wages decreasing.

Its the opposite to Angelo's idea, but I bet it will work and you probably wont really have to cut their salaries and afterwards maby you can give them a raise.
 
IANAL :cool: ..but I asked one whose expertise (apparently) covers issues like this - and HE says that, in terms of camera use being legally clear, all you need do is put up signs in public areas that the premises are under surveillance (with the obvious exception of places where one could reasonably expect privacy, like on the throne) and should you catch someone red-handed, you're good to go for nailing/firing the culprit(s) ..and this is the really important bit - being in the clear with the likes of the CCMA/labour dept.

But don't just take my word for it, mail him instead :cool: ...and ask him about the feasability of getting away with some of the ideas that have been presented here.
 
Some salient points:

- cameras in and of themselves are high-ticket items so, unless you go to some length to secure/hide them, you may well find the cameras themselves being stolen! (ahh, life's little ironies!)

- wi-fi is all well and good, but every.single.electronic.device requires power so, much as you might get around having to run (network) cabling, wherever you decide to hide the camera(s) you'll still need to get power to 'em .. which is likely visible/defeats the point of wi-fi in terms of being hidden/movable. Or you could kludge some battery type solution together if you want to go the Frankenjob route. :p

- back-end infrastructure is going to get you down, because unless you have a guard-type person sitting physically watching the view(s) ALL the time (which itself brings up a new set of problems, oy!) you will have to record this to some kind of storage for later review ..and in any case, in the event of actually catching a thief, you'll need to be able to present that evidence in support of your claim/court.

SO: you could get over-the-shelf consumer gear where people are going to want to sell you DVR-type boxen ..that cost a pretty penny (and have limited, when compared with PCs, HDD size) and just dumbly record (I'm open to correction on this, haven't studied the feature sets on these things) pretty much everything - which will leave you with HOURS of footage of people arbing back and forth in the course of their daily routines .. a.k.a. a great place to hide nefarious activities due the high noise-to-signal ratio.

OR: you could knock together a PC-based (elgooG search results) recording solution, either with native IP cameras, or you can bash together (relatively) cheap-n-cheerful OTC cameras (or here (happy shopping!)) with (a) video server box that automagically 'networkifies' the video, so you can still store/record your video to a PC-based solution ..but either way, it comes back to at least one CAT5 cable going to a server box.

And ALL of this is before the legality of your video evidence (in terms of admissibility in court, etc. - not the same issue as my previous post) and whether wireless cameras will meet your need ...IOW, this is very much a non-trivial project to get off the ground - hope you're prepared for it! :cool:
 
HosstheBoss said:
Hi, need some advice here

I work from home and so I have my employees around the house all day, and tools are being stolen non stop! Power tools (lost about 5 so far this year!) and now today; my old man’s set of imperial sized spanners, you struggle to find those damn things anywhere.

I want to set up a camera so I can catch the bastard that’s stealing, because I get denials any other way! Problem is this:
I have three garages on different sides of the house, pc inside. I need a camera(s) that is(are) preferably wireless (laying cables are going to be a bitch) and I also want to move them around a lot, with the hope to keep people guessing.

Labanimal mentioned a router to me in another thread, that functions as a hub (wireless) as well and I understand these wireless camera’s work with ip addresses, does that mean they’ll work together?

I want something at a decent price, don’t want to spend thousands but I also want something that can at least capture a decent picture. I also want to be able to record things while I’m not at home.
Questions:
What will the range be like of the camera signal?
Is there some software needed to record onto hard drive?
What prices am I looking at?
Is the ip camera the best route, or is there something else?

Please any advice is appreciated!
Click to expand...

Best advice from me is that you contact a Security company that deals with CCTV and explain to them what you want and where you stand regarding the use and laws...

Here is a useful site:

http://www.saundersonsecurity.co.za/acatalog/CCTV_Business_Packages.html

Hope this helps...
 
I've tried the wireless one from Swann. It was well-built and worked like it said on the tin. However the quality of the picture was worse than I expected. I imagine a smaller matcbox sized one won't give better results. The aim is to be able to recognise the culprit so do some testing if you go the camera route.
 
get the footage as evidence, then blackmail them, tell him/her to resign or you will take legal action or report them to the cops
 
I have gone through this experience.
I have signs on my premises stating that there are cameras and they record everything. My employees know there are cameras. Recently when we caught someone stealing, she denied being the one captured on the recording (even though her face was clearly visible). Her denials though didn't stop the cops from arresting her, and accepting the camera footage as evidence.
I use Tevicom software and cards (Korean) on a PC - captures a month worth of footage on a 200Gb drive - from 14 cameras - They have a local distributor - just do a google search.
 
Nod said:
Personally I wouldn't replace any of the goods. Just take the money from everyones paychecks (divided equally), at the end of the month, to buy new equipment. When queried, simply let them know that this will happen every time something goes missing. At this stage they will start ratting each other out, or start to police your place for you.
Click to expand...
Now that would be illegal.
 
The only thing that is illegal when it comes to surveillance is putting camera's in rest rooms!
 
i'm not sure, but i think u might need a sign of some sorts outside ur building ...... go to www.s4s.co.za for the hidden cameras and stuff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X