Advice wanted on CCTV cameras to deal with problem neighbour

[Fairyflaps]

I would like advice on cctv cameras with decent night vision to record in front of my house. They would need to be either inside my windows or very discreet/ indestructible.

Background is we have a neighbour who has been harassing myself and my family for 18 months+ now. There is a string of issues including criminal damage, public order and assault (fortunately not serious) as well as minor things such as dog food being left on the pavement outside our garden gate. We have a few police incident numbers and we maintain a log of all incidents. Unfortunately without witnesses, there is not enough evidence to prosecute him, and the police have advised us to get a cctv camera.

Most incidents take place late night, when he has been drinking etc. So we need to have night vision. We also know that he has damaged neighbours' external cctv cameras in the past & we don't want to be spending money on kit which then gets damaged/ knocked off.

I was wondering if there was any cctv camera which we could put in our front window which would cover the area in front of the house. There is only 1.5m from our house to the front garden wall. Alternatively whether there was any very discreet camera which he wouldn't notice - bearing in mind our house has a very plain frontage. Our front door is recessed in a porch, so a ring doorbell wouldn't have great coverage.

ring camera mounted inside the window?

Is your car parked in a driveway or on the road I’m front of your house that perhaps could be covered by motion censor dash cam? Could be a way of capturing him on film and be protected as it’s inside the car? Perhaps also a motion censor light affixed to your roof line area (just under guttering) ? So with a two pronged approach of capturing him?

Do you have clutter free window sills? If so, pop a few things on them now, so you can hide a camera among them soon without arousing suspicion.

You can get night vision wildlife cameras. They have a camouflage finish for use outdoors, but you could perhaps position one on a windowsill inside with something concealing it apart from the sensors and the lens? A bit like a so-called nanny cam. Have it filming your drive/path.

We have cctv on the front and back of our house. It’s pretty high up and clear, though we paid about £700 for this kit.
My dm has indoor cameras that were bought through Amazon that are pretty good, but obvious they are cameras in the window.
I’m sure there’s smaller more inconspicuous ones you can get for indoors.

@Rollercoaster1920 I've been trying to find out if cameras give a decent image if stuck behind double glazing - especially at night. I expect there would be reflections.

@SaltyTootsieToes our car is parked in a garage a block away. On the couple of times we have left the car in the street overnight it has incurred damage (almost certainly due to this neighbour) but unfortunately we didn't have a dash cam.

Yes, you would be best calling in a security firm as they will know exactly what blind spots are left and where you could be encroaching on his land.

Awful for you.

@Longdistance high up mounted cameras might be the way to go. But the expense is a concern. And I will begrudge every penny of it. Do your DM's indoor cameras give decent coverage/ images through a window?

I don't mind cameras being visible on the window sills if they are inside. He can't get to them there without smashing the windows - and that may be a step too far even for him.

We tried buying cameras from Amazon but eventually brought in the experts as it's not expensive to buy something and find out it's not good enough, can't be used because of the angle etc

If he smashes cameras you will be able to get the police involved.

Turret camera fixed to the roof is expensive but effective.

I have blink cameras from Amazon. They’re really good.

FYI the night vision and motion detector will not operate through glazing. You can manually look at it that way but the night vision just reflects of glass.

The blink ones are small and can easily be hidden.

We have the battery ring camera in my chicken coop and the picture is really good at night though black and white. Not tried it through windows though. It’s fairly small and discrete and was reasonably priced on Amazon. We also have the ring spotlight cameras which look more like normal spotlights and you can’t really tell it’s a camera unless you look closely.

@LolaButt this is what I though might be the case re night vision operating through glazing.

The problem neighbour doesn't actually live on my street: he is just round the corner. So there is no worry about infringing on his property. I am more worried about invading the privacy of my nice neighbours opposite.

@itallworkedouthorribly the police are already involved. As far as I know when he damaged next door's cctv - 2 separate incidents: (1) cutting the wire (2) using a long pole or tool handle to damage/ redirect the camera - there were no consequences for him.

The frustrating thing, is that even if we get evidence proving to court levels of proof that it is him doing these things, it is only likely to result in a community order.

I have a cctv camera with night vision but it doesn't work through windows as the night vision just reflects straight back. You will need an external one. My external one was £50 on amazon and is really good but large and obvious its a camera.

That is very frustrating. A turret camera would be beyond his reach and you could have a sensor to let you know if he's there.

What about a civil injunction for harassment. It sounds like you have enough to fill a diary. Expensive but then he has fines and potentially a jail sentence when he breaches it.

FYI the night vision and motion detector will not operate through glazing. You can manually look at it that way but the night vision just reflects of glass.

This is my experience with cameras placed inside. Ive recently purchased some small cameras from Amazon. You can affix the base to your upper story window frame and then replace the camera to re-charge it. Runs for about 2 weeks on the internal battery. You can also upload to the cloud for storage (extra subscription) You need windows which you can easily open and access from inside the room. If the cameras are on 1st story they will not be able to be reached from outside without a ladder so your neighbour would not be able to damage them. The cameras are quite small and come in black or white. I also have them on some of the window ledges inside so able to see all down the street and not easily visible from outside unless you know what you are looking for.

Eufy have a great system (and no monthly fees like Ring etc.) and you can buy a birdbox type cover for their cameras and mount it very high up so hard to damage and less noticeable (battery only needs to be charged every 6 months or a year depending on which one you buy). We are really impressed with the quality of the night images and super easy to set up.

We have reolink cameras for this exact reason, they are on the inside of our windows and are fine! Still pick up movement through the window

Hi OP I have a EZVIZ 180 degree night vision, sound and motion detection cctv camera installed high up on my house. It’s up there as I also have a crazy neighbour. She bullied my 8 year old son every time he was out and harassed us for months. She also stood back and allowed her son over and over again to abuse my kids and did nothing . I have had the police involved, her housing association who couldn’t kick her out due to Covid housing rule changes and now have her on a final written warning from a solicitor that we will be taking her to court to obtain a non harassment order if she doesn’t stop loitering around my house and continues to approach my family.

You need to keep robust diaries and evidence upon evidence. I used photo-age from our cctv camera recently as evidence. I am in Scotland and it’s legal for me to wall mount the camera even though it films the full street. It does not stare directly into anyone’s window etc. The video images are very good and it films constantly. It was about £150 in total but has been worth every penny.

I can't help wondering whether it might be cheaper and more effective to employ a security firm or private detective to patrol a few times and record footage. This might sound outlandish, but could get a better result.

@Fundays12 that's awful for you and your family. So far my arsehole neighbour has targeted me, my husband and my dog, but not my son fortunately. It is so hard to get something done about it. I think the people who behave like this aren't stupid. They know that they get away with an awful lot without any consequences, and I think they get off on the power of it. I hope the non harassment order makes a difference and does actually put an end to it.
I'll look into that camera - that's about the sort of price I was looking at paying.

In my neighbour's case he has a history of running 'campaigns' against people. My next-door neighbour ended up moving out because of him. My NDN had a history of mental health problems which included some degree of paranoia, so arsehole neighbour spent all the time in his gateway staring at my NDN's house, and watching him every time he went in and out of the house. The final straw was when arsehole neighbour complained to the council that NDN had talked to his son and made it out to be much more than it was.

The best solution seems to be to put a camera up outside one of the first floor windows, where it should be out of reach from outside the house, but we can get install it and get it in and out through the window to change batteries etc. Blindingly obvious, but I hadn't actually thought of that. I should be able to find an angle which covers the pavement immediately outside the front of my house without staring into the house opposite.

@IstandwithJackieWeaver no a security guard would be overkill. And very expensive for something that happens sporadically. At one time after a particularly nasty public order offence, the police made a point of driving by regularly as part of their usual patrols in case it escalated. Luckily it didn't.

With the blink ones and lots of others you can blank out certain zones, so that your neighbours privacy isn’t impacted.

Sometimes having the cameras visible acts as a deterrent, but you sound like you have a crazy person on your hands.

It’s called YI dome camera. It has 360° coverage. I would’ve thought an upstairs window on a box would be good.

It’s awful how much they can get away with and needs changed legally ASAP. You need too write everything though and highlight what it is such as harassment. Is the other person in a council property? This neighbour of mine drove out a family already and tried it with us as she was convinced that we were housing association tenants (despite being told by others including the association we own our house). If so kick up with them too as it’s a breach of the contract and they need too know you will not stand for that behaviour. Keep at them and every incident call the police.