Criminals Ignore These; I Don't Blame Them
We've all seen these signs or similar ones, and they are used around the globe.
There's a major problem however. Criminals ignore them. Putting a sign like this at the entrance to your community does very little good.
Therefore, I humbly propose a different way to watch your community. Replace the words on the sign above with "Welcome! All homes in this community have entrance and street viewing security cameras. You are being recorded."
Now that sign would get the attention of a criminal! Imagine how much crime would be prevented if it were true. There would be no vandalism, no stolen delivery boxes off your porch, no cars searched through by teens for a quick buck, and a constant layer of protection from even worse crimes.
In a past post I discussed lighting for your residence. This post introduces security cameras.
There are countless makes and models of entrance cameras to choose from. The cameras can be wireless since the slight chance of them being hacked does little harm to your privacy. There are applications for your phone that allow remote viewing, two way verbal communication, and other good features as well.
In addition to cameras at all of your entrances, you should also have at least one that views your street. Criminals routinely scout neighborhoods with vehicles, and you want to be capturing vehicle details as they come and go. If a crime is committed, then you have additional evidence to track down the criminals.
The above concept works equally well for commercial buildings.
The city I live in has had numerous attempted kidnappings. One woman a couple years ago was kidnapped and later found murdered. There were a few grainy and poor quality images of her walking on the streets outside a bar before it happened, but no one had clear high quality video of her abduction.
Imagine how much safer your city would be if all of the businesses included at least one more security camera that watched the public area. Almost all businesses use surveillance cameras already. They already have security systems. Adding one more camera to improve public safety would be a good customer service move.
Video protects us as long as it is under our control.
Privately controlled and monitored public cameras should greatly outnumber those controlled by governments. It would be very difficult for video of a crime to disappear on a street with ten businesses that all had separate street facing security cameras. The more public cameras controlled by individuals and private companies, the safer our communities will be.
If you have a business with a security system, consider adding an additional camera to watch the public space outside. If you have a home, install entrance cameras and at least one street viewing camera that captures license plates and other passing vehicle information.
Please follow me if you're interested in residential security, and resteem this post if you found it valuable enough to share. The strategy above seems like a pretty solid idea to me, but perhaps I've missed something. Let me know what you think about it in the comments below. Thank you!
I love how technology is making every action perviously monopolized by government obsolete. The future is awesome.
Yes! I love the trend too. The best answer to their cameras are our cameras.
Not a bad idea. Here's a better one....... how bout make it mandatory that all home owners own and know how to use a firearm? There's a county outside of the Atl. that this is just the case and on top of that since felons can't own weapons....... guess what there are no felons there. Not saying they don't pass through but there isn't much crime if any at all. This is outside of Atlanta.... hmmm.... imagine that? Criminals like easy targets not guns in their faces or being shot at. They certainly don't like a whole society or township of people with a well educated populace that owns and knows how to use a firearm inside of each and every potential target. Don't be an easy target. Cameras are nice and they do deter but the sound of a shot gun being racked will make anyone's asshole pucker up a bit unless they're on the giving end. I suppose if one is against firearms for whatever uh, hmm urgh... reason ...well, then... get a camera and advertise it. The criminals that do have and use firearms won't and don't mind a bit. I enjoyed this read. I'm not arguing with you but just wanted to share my thoughts. Thanks.
I'm all for using firearms to defend yourself, but I prefer voluntary decisions, not mandatory ones. An armed society is definitely a more polite society though. Having video to defend your actions if you do use your firearms always helps too. Thanks for the thoughtful reply!
I like the idea of cameras along side of firearms for the gun owners safety and side of the story. These days you can never protect yourself enough. Great reply and appreciated.