Portable "Spy Cams"?

[Ben]

Does anyone have any experience with surveillance cameras like this:

https://www.amazon.com/FREDI-wireless-Android-Detection-support/dp/B06XYMGHPG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512054604&sr=8-3&keywords=portable+security+camera

Here's the situation: After somewhere around here opening my mouth about how there's never really been much of a problem with mail theft and my rural mailbox, over the last week, twice now I have driven out in the morning to find all the mailboxes (there are six of them on the county road 1/4 mile from the house that cover me and five neighbors within about a 1/4 mile radius) with the doors hanging open. Well, five of them because one neighbor keeps their locking box locked.

So it appears there may be some holiday thieves of opportunity looking for packages in mailboxes (or maybe just kids). I have a locking box as well, though I usually keep it unlocked so the mailman can put packages in it - all the locking rural boxes I have ever seen only allow letter sized stuff when in locked mode. I think I'm going to start locking it today, at least through the holidays, and just make the mailman drive to the house.

However,  I wouldn't mind catching the damn thieves, hence the camera. The wi-fi capability is not a priority. It would be nice, but I'd probably get a ton of false alarms on the road, plus my wi-fi is really spotty that far away from the house. I mostly want something small and unnoticeable that has decent night vision and a good range for motion detection. One neighbor's fence runs along the road by the mailboxes (about ten feet away), so I could hide it there, but I would only get a view perpendicular to the road, which would give me the thieves' faces, but probably not much on their vehicle.

We have an address sign about 30' from the mailboxes where I could hide a small camera like the one at the link and get a straight on view of any vehicles that pull up to the mailboxes. I'm just wondering if one of these tiny cameras would trigger at that distance. I have a game cam that triggers that far out, but it would be very conspicuous if mounted on that sign, or anywhere by the mailboxes. I don't need video, just still capture and an internal power supply that will last overnight.

So any recommendations on small cameras that would do what I want without breaking the bank? If it's too much of an expense for what I would need, the lowest common denominator solution will just be to lock the damn box.

[BobR]

You are retired, ghillie up and go sit by the boxes for a few nights.

 I had a kid shooting at my back windows from the alley once so I crawled into the bushes and waited for a few nights running. When I caught the little bastage I thought he was going to piss his pants. And yes the police were involved and so were his highly embarrassed parents by the time the night was over. A fun time was had by me, at least. :)


bob

[230RN]

Disguise the game camera in another way?

Unless you're just hell-bent on buying another gadget, of course.  (I've fallen prey to that temptation, too.)

[KD5NRH]

You are retired, ghillie up and go sit by the boxes for a few nights.

This.  Plus there's a lot of fun to be had by taking any leftover fireworks from July with you. 

50 Black Cats lobbed (by pure luck) into the back of some miscreant's pickup while he's checking the neighbor's box generates really impressive results.  I'm guessing he was in such a hurry because he needed to get back to his underwear drawer right away.

[HeroHog]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2017/10/20/got-surveillance-camera-could-help-shreveport-co-cameras-connecting-police-criminals-and-their-crime/778151001/

[Ben]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2017/10/20/got-surveillance-camera-could-help-shreveport-co-cameras-connecting-police-criminals-and-their-crime/778151001/

I've got that kind of camera too, but I don't have 500 yards of extension cord. :)

[HeroHog]

No Lectricity out there? Well, at that distance the WiFi will be iffy at best. Ya will have to run CAT 5 or better.

[Ben]

No Lectricity out there? Well, at that distance the WiFi will be iffy at best. Ya will have to run CAT 5 or better.

As I said, wifi is not needed, only a perk. There would be way too many alert hits from people just going about their business.  I regularly ping my router from there this time of year with the corn down. I would just expect a cheap spycam to have less wifi capability than my phone.

[T.O.M.]

I remember a case years back where a neighborhood was having similar issues, one of the homeowners hid out and shot up the guys car with a paintball gun.  He then called the police, and they IDd the vehicle by the paint splats.  Search turned up stolen mail.  Thief thought he was really being shot at.

[Ben]

I remember a case years back where a neighborhood was having similar issues, one of the homeowners hid out and shot up the guys car with a paintball gun.  He then called the police, and they IDd the vehicle by the paint splats.  Search turned up stolen mail.  Thief thought he was really being shot at.

Now that might be fun. 

[HeroHog]

Ya know, they make capsaicin "paint balls", right? Hurt like H3!! then they hurt like H3!! again.

[KD5NRH]

Ya know, they make capsaicin "paint balls", right? Hurt like H3!! then they hurt like H3!! again.

A burst through the open window ought to make the car undriveable for a while.

[230RN]

But, but, Ben doesn't want to hang out there and is looking for electronic traps to ID the lowlife.  I guess nobody else on that route has the right surveillance stuff either.

I'm amazed that the local postal enforcement people wouldn't jump all over this kind of investigation... with the full force of the Federal Gooberment and all its surveillanceware.  That would be a great felony case to solve.

I mean, jeeze, the first thing I'd do if I had the investigatory power would be to check with all the banks regarding unusual check cashing activity.  I mean, jeeze, after all: thing one: follow the money.

The time window kind of bothers me, since at least around here, the mailman comes at a more or less regular time on his daily route, so this thief must know more or less when people pick up their mail and has to get there in between those times.

So he must be doing it during the day, possibly by bicycle, and is possibly one of the deliverees on that route.

Surely somebody must be able to spot him on his "rounds."  Ain't nobody out there got a pair of binocs?

Is the mail typically left in the boxes overnight?

I know in rural areas out here, you'll find a bunch of mailboxes out by the main road so the mailman doesn't have to drive 5 miles per mailbox, so it sounds like a pretty inefficient system out there.

Of course, out here, if something like this were going on, "there would be a rifle behind every fencepost."  

But all in all, I think the only equipment needed in this case is a telephone.

Terry, 230RN

[Ben]

But, but, Ben doesn't want to hang out there and is looking for electronic traps to ID the lowlife.

The time window kind of bothers me, since at least around here, the mailman comes at a more or less regular time on his daily route, so this thief must know more or less when people pick up their mail and has to get there in between those times.

So he must be doing it during the day, and possibly by bicycle, and is possibly one of the deliverees on that route.

Surely somebody must be able to spot him on his "rounds."

Is the mail typically left in the boxes overnight?

If not kids screwing around, I'm thinking maybe opportunistic amateur who is doing it at night in hopes of someone not having checked their mail earlier, though it could be a bolder thief doing it in broad daylight.

The mailman usually shows up around noon. The boxes are well exposed on the road, but only one neighbor is close enough to the boxes to see if someone is up to no good, and they'd have to be out in their yard at the time. For all the rest of us, unless you're sitting in a chair with binos for hours at a time, or lucky, you wouldn't see anyone pulling up. For anyone driving by, it would look like someone just pulling up to check their box.

[230RN]

Call the Postal Inspector.

[Ben]

Call the Postal Inspector.

They actually don't do much. We've done it before. They have you fill out a form and tell you they'll look into it.

[RevDisk]

Ring camera with solar panel. Or game camera.

[KD5NRH]

The time window kind of bothers me, since at least around here, the mailman comes at a more or less regular time on his daily route, so this thief must know more or less when people pick up their mail and has to get there in between those times.

Not too hard most places; mail is usually delivered by 1-2PM, and with the exception of a few retired people, not checked until 5:30 or later.  When having trouble with mail thieves, we would sometimes recruit the nearest retired/disabled/work-at-home person to grab everybody's mail as soon as it runs, usually leaving junk mail in the boxes as a mild bait so the thieves won't catch on right away.

[230RN]

Call the Postal Inspector.

The end-game here is a felony --cashing or "wiping" checks.  Either ones coming in or ones going out to pay your bills.  (And don't disqualify my argument by saying you do all this electronically --not everybody on your route necessarily does that.)

Call the Postal Inspector again.

Terry, 230RN

[Hawkmoon]

"Call the postal inspector" sounds like a great idea but, as Ben has already said, all they do is give you a form to fill out and then they say they'll look into it. That generally seems to amount to reading the form, and dropping it in a box.

[230RN]

So?  Call the Postal Inspector again.

Trouble is, by the time that decision to call again is made, the malefactor will have moved on to another area.

And it'll be time for the new victims to call the Postal Inspector instead of screwing around with new $urveillance $ystems and staking it all out with binocs...  

Call the Postal Inspector.

Haisus Aitch Kristus already.  

Honestly, you guys...        

Terry

[KD5NRH]

Sheriff around here has always been a lot more proactive than the postmaster, if you can give them any useful info like a vehicle description, or, ideally, a pic of the vehicle with an arm reaching into your mailbox.  Either way, vehicles matching that description will start getting pulled over for every tiny infraction, and the deputies will be looking closely for any mail sitting in plain view.  If they get an excuse to search, it'll be done quite thoroughly, and any mail found will result in contacting the addressee to find out if there's any valid reason for the driver to have it.

They've caught a few over the last couple of years by that method, and most had mail in plain view with other people's names on it.  One had several wiped checks in the glove box that the officer saw while the driver was looking for his insurance card.  (Personally, not keeping track of what's in the glove box is why I got in the habit of keeping the insurance card on the visor.  Not good to have a nervous cop suddenly staring at a loaded extended mag you forgot was in there.)

[Angel Eyes]

At least the miscreants aren't pooping in Ben's driveway.

[Ben]

At least the miscreants aren't pooping in Ben's driveway.

Better the driveway than in the mailbox. 

Anyway, looks like it might have just been no good rotten teenagers. I just started locking mine, at least through the holidays. The mailman can drive down the road to the house and say "hello" for a while. :) None of the non-locking boxes of the neighbors look to have been messed with in the last week.