Catching car vandals in the act

[towser]

Hi, over the past month my partners car has been keyed outside our house and on returning from holiday late yesterday I found she has two flat drivers side tyres. These had been fine - so they've either been let down or they have coincidentally both got a slow leak. I'm assuming they've been purposefully deflated and if they've been resting on the rims for the best part of a week are possibly damaged and will need replaced.

I had to return home early from holidays due to a family emergency and to be confronted with this was the last thing I needed. Partner unaware of this at the moment. I know it will upset her and knock her for 6.

I would like to get footage of whoever is doing this.

Not keen of sitting in a bush with a camera just waiting!

There's a dashcam in her car that plugs into 12v port but I assume it's off when the ignition is off so couldn't be used for security when the car is parked.

Extenal cctv is a possibility but I'd like something discrete that works well at nighttime and doesn't light the place up like xmas. But I'm no cctv expert and there's a huge number of options.

Ideally I'd like something that is portable so a fixed cctv doesn't help there.

Appreciate any thoughts or alternatives.

[LarryUSA]

How about a Bushnell Trophy Camera? I have one, easy to strap to a tree or pole, self contained and infra red for night vision. Not small, but easy to hide.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bushnell-Trophy-Essential...

[defblade]

towser said:

There's a dashcam in her car that plugs into 12v port but I assume it's off when the ignition is off so couldn't be used for security when the car is parked.

You could wire it to a permanent live, but you'd have to be lucky with the perps being in view of it at some point. Shouldn't flatten the battery if the car is used daily.

Otherwise, as poster above has mentioned, you're looking for a hunting/game/trail camera, http://www.uttings.co.uk/c1132-cameras/

[towser]

Thanks guys that Bushnell camera looks just the job.....

[davek_964]

I'd go the CCTV route. For less than the cost of that Bushnell, I installed one of these a few weeks ago :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00VWG6XR0/ref...

Works really well, records to SD card (64GB card gives weeks of recording), very good / clear daytime vision and clear at night time as well (IR, so doesn't light up anything).

Obviously it's a more permanent install and needs power - however, now I have that (and other) cameras around the house I find it very reassuring that I can now see what happened if anything happens around the house / to my cars etc.

[98elise]

You can re purpose old mobile phones as CCTV. We have some that we use in the house while we're on holiday.

You can watch them remotely, or set them up to record movement etc.

[davek_964]

98elise said:

You can re purpose old mobile phones as CCTV. We have some that we use in the house while we're on holiday.

You can watch them remotely, or set them up to record movement etc.

Unless you buy an IR lamp, probably not to view outside in the dark though.