Being harassed- need hardware/software to record video at a specific time and save it locally

syzygyed

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Apr 21, 2014
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I am trying to help my sister who is being harassed by a neighbor. Several times a week, at a particular time, he comes to the end of her driveway and stands there. He screams at her house, and/or exposes himself, and/or vandalizes something. She has tried going to the police, but without proof they can't do anything. She has tried talking to him- no good. She is not always there at this time.

We were told to set up a camera to catch him in the act over several days. After hours of reading, I have a good idea of what's possible, but haven't found the right combination of hardware/software yet.

We need to:
- schedule recording for an hour/day
- save the video locally so we can review it/edit it (on a card in the camera? saved to the PC?)
- I live 300 miles away and will need to set it up through TeamViewer
- My sister is a marginal computer user so things on her end have to be as simple as possible.

That's it. We don't need remote monitoring, sound/motion detection or anything like that.

Here's what I'm working with:
- Win XP
- Cisco Valet

My sister bought a Samsung Smartcam SNH-P6410BN https://www.samsungsmartcam.com/web/ which I set up. Wireless won't work because the router doesn't have the right kind of security. We're willing to run an Ethernet cable across the room, but I can't figure out how to schedule a recording. There's no tech support other than FAQs at the site.

If we can get the Smartcam to work, fine. If we need to use something else, that's fine too. Our budget is up to about $300- less is better.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Solution
The deer cam is $140, will capture cars passing :) and also what that guy is doing. Since you're setting it upstairs, any nice logitech camera will do motion capture. I know you're concerned about loading it up with cars passing but that's how security recordings work :)

bigwoofer

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Aug 14, 2013
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syzygyed

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Apr 21, 2014
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I assume that he's making sure he's not "on the property", but still as close as he can get. We were going to put the camera in an upstairs room to get a down/diagonal view; I'm afraid that passing cars/leaves will trigger it. We weren't worrying about audio- it's pretty clear what his message is. Thanks.
 
This is a really duct-tape solution, but if internet usage isn't a problem it could work. Set up a Skype call with your sisters computer, point the camera out the window and just leave it running. When the time comes, check the video feed and have a program like FRAPS ready to record your screen if he is out there.
 

bigwoofer

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Aug 14, 2013
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The deer cam is $140, will capture cars passing :) and also what that guy is doing. Since you're setting it upstairs, any nice logitech camera will do motion capture. I know you're concerned about loading it up with cars passing but that's how security recordings work :)
 
Solution
Just go get some fake cameras and put them in very obvious places and make it look like you are recording huge areas. You can tell him that you will turn it over to the police. A small fake camera with a fake solar panel and antenna makes it look like you have a $500 camera system watching him. Even a real camera system that you do not monitor constantly as long as it was very visible that you had a camera system should deter most people. Pretty much even if you turn video evidence over to the police all they do is go try to scare the guy into stopping its not like they haul them off to jail the first couple of times.

 

Kewlx25

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Be careful, in some states, you can't record someone's voice without their consent. From my limited understanding, in most of these states, video recording is fine, but not audio. Doing an audio recording of someone without their consent is criminal, meaning automatic prison time.
 

Pooneil

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Apr 15, 2013
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As to the "without proof they can't do anything." This is not true. If there is a complaint of criminal conduct the police can take action. The police provide "proof," not the citizen complainant. Not that the police always do so, but there are ways to elevate the level of complaint, such as making it in writing, rather than over the phone.

Presumably she, or someone else, is there to witness the behaviors, otherwise she wouldn't know it was the particular person. A written log of times and behaviors made at the times of his presence and covering a period of days should be enough to induce the police to take action on a stalking complaint. Simple photos would be a bonus. There is likely some history here anyway, so just enough information to confirm a recurrence of past problems should be enough.

Sometimes the situation is more easily addressed without technology.
 

syzygyed

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Apr 21, 2014
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Thanks for all the information, guys. Some comments:

- A deer camera had never even dawned on me, but it's a great idea.
- Skype isn't possible, but it's an inventive idea!
- Ok, no audio recording. Thanks for the info.
- Fake cameras might stop him- hadn't thought of that.
- The police *should* do something, but so far they haven't. She's been keeping a record, but no pics.

I appreciate the options- a bunch of things here that I hadn't thought about. I'll talk with her tonight about them.
Thanks!