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Using Video To Catch a Nasty Neighbor

Living in the Northeast has its pros and cons. We have the four seasons, great food, entertainment, sports, everything is at your fingertips, and for me it’s where business gets done.

Drawbacks include lots of congestions, crime, traffic, bad attitudes and nasty neighbors. Most people I know have a neighbor they are in some kind of entanglement with. It’s everywhere. When houses are stacked on top of each other people get territorial and stuff happens.

A New York Times article highlights a few of these nasty scenarios that I’m talking about. One person from the article was quoted saying “I’m not sure now, whether to worry more about my neighbors or strangers.”

I hear you man. I HEAR YOU!

Installing video surveillance outside your home can be a deterrent to a burglar or home invader. Cameras are another layer of protection. But they can also catch a person doing things they shouldn’t too.

For example:

My cameras caught one of my neighbors attacking another neighbor. The film was used as evidence in court and the attacker moved.

Man catches a neighbor who “had been tossing plastic bags of dog excrement into the sculptured shrubs around a palm tree in his front yard.” Man gets a fine and is shamed on Youtube. He moved.

A former state district judge, is caught scratching the back of his neighbors car. The video, was posted on YouTube. Shamed.

One man used the cameras to document a “neighbor’s cats prowling and fouling the yard around his mobile home. He also discovered neighbors looking in his windows while he was away.” Posted to YouTube.

Another man who had items missing from his home caught his neighbor on film entering his basement and rooting around which was enough for the police to arrest him.

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Comments: (2)

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 15 November, 2010, 16:31Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

...and who could forget the cat lady of Coventry, caught by the owner's cctv?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-11068063

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 15 November, 2010, 22:18Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

If living in Australia you had better be a little careful about the placement of your video camera.

Particularly if the neighbour happens to be a dodgy property developer illegally demolishing and building a residence without a permit and has some 'friends' in NSW police's notoriously corrupt police force.

You might find yourself the target of a police raid after your neighbour claims he felt intimidated by the video camera you have erected to surveil your side fence after having to rebuild it when the neighbour demolished it while yoiu were on holidays along with your expensive water feature). The developer conveniently took out an apprehended violence order because they felt 'intimidated' by the camera.

It doesn't take a police raid with three cars and an arrest to sort that out.

The biggest laugh was that the camera was even a fake i.e. not actually capable of recording anything.

True story. Names of corrupt police provided on request if you need to sort out your neighbour's camera. You'll have to arrange your own magistrate but they are easy to find too, it seems.

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