Theft at home. Which camera to use?

[drivesmemad]

So my poor, elderly dad is the victim of theft in his home. Over the last few weeks, several bottles/strips of controlled drugs have gone missing and I’ve reported it to the care agency (he has carers 4 times a day) as well as the police. They have taken it seriously (thankfully) but have said that without evidence, there isn’t much they can do. Police advised we install a camera so with my dad’s consent, I bought a £40 ‘secret’ camera from Amazon but it keeps going offline so I can’t actually record anything.

Has anyone else had to install cameras (particularly ones that don’t stand out)? Looking for any recommendations! Am absolutely furious that someone is doing this but if there’s a chance of catching them, I’d love the opportunity.

I work in community care. Unless you want to, you do not have to have cameras that ‘don’t stand out’ they can be on open display. Many homes I visit have cameras and every care worker will be made aware of them by their manager after the initial home visit. The most cameras I have seen in one home has been a Ring doorbell at the front door, a camera in the kitchen, lounge, dining room, hallway, stairs and landing. Professional care workers do not mind being filmed by cameras in someone’s home.

Yeah but I think OP now wants to catch them so that they can be prosecuted and won’t do it to other victims who are thus far unaware it is happening to them too.

If there are cameras that are on show then the thief won’t steal and won’t get caught. They’ll. carry on doing it to other vulnerable people who may not notice.

In that case I would keep a tally of the tablets and bottles after each visit. You can not be sure that the carer is going to prepare the medication in front of the camera you have hidden. For example if the medication is kept in a box in the lounge and the camera is in the lounge, some carers might prepare the medication there or a carer might prefer to take the meds box and the MAR sheet into the kitchen to prepare, under a brighter light and next to a sink for the liquids. The evidence you will need is your tally, the carers initials on the MAR sheet and their signature on the log sheets if you find any discrepancies.

Thanks but in this case, the carers are not administering the drugs. He self administers and takes this particular drug only when needed. We’ve noticed for a couple of months that we’ve been running low so I set a couple of ‘traps’ by photographing drugs and leaving them around the home and then checking the next day - definite significant weekly losses which are not being caused by my dad. So the goal now is to find out who is doing it.

Yes, exactly this. Initially we just wanted it to stop but now it’s a case of wanting to catch the person as it’s likely they’ll be doing it to others too. Police advised us that we’re within our rights to put a hidden camera in place if we want to and that it would still be admissible in court if we happen to catch anything.

Blink is very good. I was able to set it up myself so it was pretty simple £2.50 a month https://amzn.eu/d/04uiPlNa