Looking for a reliable wireless camera for my park

Hi Guys,  Can anyone point me in the right direction for (2) wireless cameras for a park I just acquired. Tony 

I’m working on this right now for my park. I’ve installed a couple cameras and the trashing of common areas has significantly reduced. Fake or dummy cameras will have a similar if not exact effect where people see the cameras and assume they are being watched and tend to behave. I’m using them for deterrents mostly but am also using them to tactically catch tenants breaking rules so I can evict them with speed. I’ve been playing around with budget Foscam cameras. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=foscam%20wirelessUnless you are a network pro and can adequately support wireless systems, I would avoid wireless if you intend to mount the cameras on buildings because you’ll end up spending too much time on a ladder rebooting the junk. Check out Ispy. It is a fairly friendly solution to integrate multiple cameras into a surveillance system. They actively support the Foscam cameras. http://www.ispyconnect.com/

You might talk to your insurance agent (hopefully Kurt Kelley) about the rules to make sure that you do not “imply” that you have security on property as a result of the cameras. There have been some lawsuits on landlords recently in which the plaintiff claims the cameras “implied” that there was security when there was not, or that the crime could have been avoided had the cameras been monitored 24/7. I’m no expert at it, but you might want to get some input from an insurance guy.

1 Like

I’ve been told the same thing that Frank has. Our insurance guys encouraged us to think about the problem we wanted to solve and then consider solutions. In one case, we had a pool that was being visited after hours (and unclothed) so motion sensors attached to bright lights fixed that problem in a week. We had some dumping issues on other properties, so moving the dumpsters and better fencing/physical security took care of the rest. Having said all that, cameras certainly have their place. We put them on two large apartment properties in St. Louis and coupled with much better lighting, they were immensely effective. HD quality images that were available for the police to monitor helped us cut crime at one 700-unit property from 42% of the precinct’s reports to less than 10% in 12 months.Will

someone suggested to me that I look into hunting camera’s at cabela’s.  you can get night vision as well and they are not that expensive.  I havent done that yet but I had a problem with residents climbing over a fence.  I planted shrubs that had thorns as well as cactus along the fence and then put up a sign that said we were monitoring the site.  no problems since

I’ve done the same thing – nothing compares with prickly plants. You can cut barbed wire, but it’s impossible to come up with a simple, effective solution to deal with prickly hedges when you want to get over a fence. Additionally, they looks much nicer than barbed wire, too.

On a side note , are there liabilities where barbed wire is at ?

Barbed wire is most likely illegal. I wanted it on a wall around an apartment building I owned and was told by the city that it was against code and and my insurance agent told me there was a big liability issue with it. Prickly plants are great but will not work in all areas. What all the apartment managers did in the area where we were all having problems was put pine tar on the top of the walls. That stopped all the fence hopping. Think about it; what’s the first thing you do before jumping over a wall — put your hands up on top of it – and you get a hand full of sap all over them, it makes me laugh.My only thought on security cameras is how crappy the image quality is in all the ones I see on the nightly news. I don’t understand it – you can buy a GoPro that shoots clean HD for a little over $200, so why is it that the video off of security cameras are such crap?BTW: here is my favorite GoPro video. If you haven’t see it, go full screen, turn up the sound and enjoy the ride.  Really, if a little GoPro can produce that, why do security videos at best look like this?

Good point on the security issue. I’ve had tenants call me and tell me they did not feel secure about other tenants so I don’t want to imply there is security of any sort available to them. That is some crazy shit.

Guys,Thanks for all of the input.Frank - I’m using Kurt Kelly on all of our parks.I’ll get with him and proceed accordingly. Tony 

I’ve had decent luck with these.

Wireless Outdoor Security Camera, WiFi Solar Rechargeable Battery Power IP Surveillance Home Cameras, 1080P, Human Motion Detection, Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, 4dbi Antenna, IP65 Waterproof, Cloud/SD

They use SD cards. Can setup triggering, but pretty basic. No central DVR system. They’ve run great off of solar, so zero wiring. I just connected them to the network in advance, mounted the solar and camera to a 4x4 and dropped them on the flat roofs. Self contained.

They don’t see very far in the pitch black. They have IR light, but it doesn’t broadcast far, so for a big area you’d probably want more IR flood lights or regular security lights.

A year later 4/5 are working and we suspect a trouble resident messed with that one.