Dashcam Cloud Recording if Carjacked?

[DroMike]

Question 1: If I already have an iPhone with an active T-Mobile account (and data, etc.) and desire to use the "cloud," would I still need to purchase the LTE module? and

Question 2: If I am carjacked, where my vehicle w/the dashcam AND my iPhone are stolen -- presuming the dashcam is always recording -- would I be able to view the footage of the carjacking in the cloud via my PC? In other words, does it upload upload everything it sees/records automatically to this separate cloud source for safekeeping?

 

[William Golden]

Question 1: If I already have an iPhone with an active T-Mobile account (and data, etc.) and desire to use the "cloud," would I still need to purchase the LTE module? and

Question 2: If I am carjacked, where my vehicle w/the dashcam AND my iPhone are stolen -- presuming the dashcam is always recording -- would I be able to view the footage of the carjacking in the cloud via my PC? In other words, does it upload upload everything it sees/records automatically to this separate cloud source for safekeeping?

The problem with this scenario is that the dashcam only uploads “events” to the cloud. Being jacked isn’t an event it would recognize. You WOULD be able to log into the dashcam and upload that time frame, but unless you have the notification muted on the dashcam side, it would announce that you were doing it. I have my notification for cloud events silenced for this very reason.

 

[Dashmellow]

Maybe a dash cam isn't the best approach or at least the only one. A few months ago I installed an Apple Air Tag in my pick-up truck and it works great to track the location of my vehicle even if I leave it at my mechanic's garage which is miles away in another state. Recently, when I left the truck with them I was able to track the vehicle from home in real time as they took it for a lengthy test drive.

I removed the speaker from the Air Tag so that it can't make any sounds to alert someone who might have stolen the truck. (It takes about 60 seconds to remove the speaker.) The Air Tag is installed inside a waterproof case I purchased on AliExpress for $4.00 and it is very well hidden, securely 3M VHB taped inside a storage compartment in the truck's bed. These cheap but well made waterproof cases are usually used for installing Air Tags on dog collars but, of course, you can use them however you like.

Fortunately, car jackings are not a common thing where I live in New England but if something like that were to happen the perp and the truck could be located fairly quickly even if my iPhone were stolen using another of my Apple devices or my desktop computer.

P.S. The Air Tag also came in handy when I had trouble locating my vehicle in a huge big box store parking lot.

 

[DroMike]

The problem with this scenario is that the dashcam only uploads “events” to the cloud. Being jacked isn’t an event it would recognize.

A-HA!! That's the exact information I was looking for William -- thank you. I thought it uploaded EVERYTHING to the cloud. At least now, should there FIRST be an accident, and the person tries to carjack me, or simply tries to steal my dashcam if he believes there is footage proving him at fault, identifying footage WILL be uploaded to a safe place out of his reach. Otherwise I get it: Gun to face, I get pulled out, carjacker gets in and goes, I'm outta luck.

As far as the airtag goes DMellow, I bought 4 of them a year ago (but haven't used any yet ironically), but was more specifically asking about the dashcam's cloud. Honestly, I've got insurance should the car get stolen so here in the SF East Bay (Oakland area), I'm really not keen on tracking down anybody, and my understanding is the cops will do nothing even if you track them to a certain location.

 

[kamkar]

I would be very glad if i could take part of getting things stolen from me back, and bring such evil / no good people to justice.
Though the norm in my little weak country is that the government have taken that part upon itself at a not unsubstantial cost in cash and freedom rights for Danes, it is crystal clear to me that my government are not able to lift that challenge, so i would do a lot to make sure justice prevail.
I wouldn't even rule out that a pinch of vigilantism may happen if the circumstances was favorable for such deeds.
Some years ago,,, okay come to think of it maybe a decade ago, my friend saw on his CCTV someone break into a neighbors house, my M8 got hold on him, and the poor guy accidentally fell several times down and up a staircase. which seem to still be a viable thing, like it was on police stations in the old days before my country turned really sour.
So the police and the neighbor was very happy for my friends effort in preventing crime.

Also in the early 90ties at my friends place, 2 kids was breaking into my car, which my auto pager alarm notified me about, i got hold of one and my friend the other, i think i broke a arm on the kid in my hands, for sure he think twice before he go stealing cars again.
No police was involved we just let them go with a warning.

Okay airtags are not a option for me even if they do seem pretty nifty, but that brand is extremely high on my hate list, from way before they made phones, and even if i am not a citizen in the country they constantly scam with their creative tax circus.
Though in all fairness they do scam any country they operate in, i actually see that company as a blemish on mankind.

 

[Dashmellow]

As far as the airtag goes DMellow, I bought 4 of them a year ago (but haven't used any yet ironically), but was more specifically asking about the dashcam's cloud. Honestly, I've got insurance should the car get stolen so here in the SF East Bay (Oakland area), I'm really not keen on tracking down anybody, and my understanding is the cops will do nothing even if you track them to a certain location.

Well, if you have four unused Air Tags it would be no big deal to throw one of them into a map pocket in your car to keep track of your vehicle. You might find it to come in handy sooner or later, plus it is actually kind of fun to be able to keep track of stuff on your iPhone. I've been finding Air Tags to be very useful for tracking a variety of things in my life aside from my truck. If I can't find my house keys or wallet at home my iPhone guides me right to their exact location.

I must say I'm surprised at how cavalier you seem about the possibility of someone stealing your car and the notion that you can simply have your insurance buy you a new one, especially since you are so concerned about having a dash cam that can record the event and send it to the cloud should it actually happen.

I'm equally puzzled by your "understanding" that the "cops will do nothing even if you can track them to a certain location". I wonder if this is indeed true? I used to spend a lot of time in the San Francisco area and I don't recall the police being quite so disinterested in pursuing major criminals. Perhaps things have changed since my time there?

Where I live in Vermont, if someone were to hijack a vehicle at gunpoint and drive away in a car worth many tens of thousands of dollars along with whatever other valuables they could grab in the process, the State Police would be on it like flies on sh*t, especially if there were a tracking device in the car.

The idea that the police wouldn't bother to investigate or prosecute a crime of that magnitude would be unheard of here if only as a matter of principle and basic law enforcement but also to prevent the perpetrator from committing further felonies and terrorizing the community.

 

[DroMike]

Well, sorry you're a little flummoxed by my position DM, but I do "speak the Gospel." I live in San Leandro below Oakland, not SF. It's commonly known that none of those jurisdictions consider theft of your property something they'd actively (certainly not immediately) take an interest in where there are so many more serious and violent crimes against people and persons which correctly take precedence. If one were to follow, let alone approach a carjacker after-the-fact, you're likely to be killed, so I won't be doing that via info from cloud footage or the plethora of AirTags I own. It's just not worth it. I bought the dashcam mainly for proving responsibility in a case of a run-of-the-mill accident where otherwise no personal violence is involved. SHOULD I be carjacked, it comes with a not-unreasonable expectation of violence. In that instance the police WILL help for that specific crime (the theft is still secondary), and I'd like at least images there to help the LEOs in that particular investigation. Beyond that, yes I'll certainly let the insurance replace the current value of the vehicle - if not re-sold outside the state, it would merely be trashed or stripped for parts anyway.

By the way, I used live in the mid-Atlantic states and had a GF with a family in Connecticut so know about Vermont and environs pretty well. I completely understand the difference in how crimes are perceived and pursued there as opposed to the inner-city type of dynamic through fully-extended law enforcement I experience here. Other than eight years in the military I've lived in the SFBA all of my 66 years; and yes -- especially through escalation in the last five years or so -- I'm sure things have changed a bit here from how you remember them. You probably can now understand how my attitude is not as much cavalier as it is realistic.

 

[Dashmellow]

If one were to follow, let alone approach a carjacker after-the-fact, you're likely to be killedWell, sorry you're a little flummoxed by my position DM, but I do "speak the Gospel." I live in San Leandro below Oakland, not SF. It's commonly known that none of those jurisdictions consider theft of your property something they'd actively (certainly not immediately) take an interest in where there are so many more serious and violent crimes against people and persons which correctly take precedence. If one were to follow, let alone approach a carjacker after-the-fact, you're likely to be killed, so I won't be doing that via info from cloud footage or the plethora of AirTags I own. It's just not worth it. I bought the dashcam mainly for proving responsibility in a case of a run-of-the-mill accident where otherwise no personal violence is involved. SHOULD I be carjacked, it comes with a not-unreasonable expectation of violence. In that instance the police WILL help for that specific crime (the theft is still secondary), and I'd like at least images there to help the LEOs in that particular investigation. Beyond that, yes I'll certainly let the insurance replace the current value of the vehicle - if not re-sold outside the state, it would merely be trashed or stripped for parts anyway.

By the way, I used live in the mid-Atlantic states and had a GF with a family in Connecticut so know about Vermont and environs pretty well. I completely understand the difference in how crimes are perceived and pursued there as opposed to the inner-city type of dynamic through fully-extended law enforcement I experience here. Other than eight years in the military I've lived in the SFBA all of my 66 years; and yes -- especially through escalation in the last five years or so -- I'm sure things have changed a bit here from how you remember them. You probably can now understand how my attitude is not as much cavalier as it is realistic.

"flummoxed"?

And so, now you DON'T live in the SF/Oakland, Bay area? That's not quite what you said. You claim to the live in the San Francisco Bay area. You are now splitting hairs about where you live. What I said was I spent time in the "San Francisco area" if you re-read my post.

I live in San Leandro below Oakland, not SF.

I've got insurance should the car get stolen so here in the SF East Bay (Oakland area)

If one were to follow, let alone approach a carjacker after-the-fact, you're likely to be killed

Firstly, I wasn't in any way suggesting that you personally pursue a car jacker due to an Air Tag in your vehicle. That would be foolhardy. You would merely give the coordinates to the cops and let them their job, although apparently where you live they are not willing to do their job.

For some odd reason you seem to think that car jacking is not a violent crime despite the definition of armed robbery, sometimes resulting in deaths. Car jacking is technically a hybrid of a violent crime and a property crime. The law enforcement approach you are describing where you live is most unfortunate and obviously substandard from the sound of it as it does nothing to decrease or deter crime levels, so it becomes a whack mole losing battle. In New York City, where I also used to live changes in policing tactics have brought murders and violent crimes down by huge percentages over the last 30 years and despite fluctuations, the numbers continue to remain historically low. In fact, NYC went from being one of the most dangerous in the US to one of the safest. San Leandro and the Bay area in general could learn a few things from the NYC police department as well as Vermont where we have one of the lowest per capita rates of violent crime and property crimes in the nation. Like Vermont, New York State as a whole is on the list as having one of the lowest violent and property crime rates in the country despite having many densely populated urban centers.




I have to say, I never imagined a suggestion to use Air Tags as an adjunct to dash cams for crime protection would end up with the kind of reply I got from you. You have quite an unfortunate attitude even if you do claim to "speak the Gospel".

 

[kamkar]

I hear / see that these days, homeless will break into your car,,,, and just sleep there.
Whe i saw my jaw was like BLAM on the computer table.

 

[Dashmellow]

Homelessness and housing in general has become a huge problem across the US. Either there are not enough low and middle income housing units being built or people simply can't afford the rents in existing housing because of the rent is so high due to demand. Meanwhile developers are building luxury housing units as fast as they can. The pandemic also really threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing where people lost their employment and their housing.