Help Me Catch a Thief!

[Dashmellow]

This was one of the way you could catch a thief in old days

Make a fake packet with a cheap black camera or other junk inside.
Caution use glove.
Buy some silver nitrate (ebay it). dissolved crystal in water, brush the camera with the solution and let it dry. Keep it out of sunlight, wrap it and put it in the packet.
If you don't use glove, when you handle silver nitrate this will happen to you and the thief and you can't wash it off.

Over the next days, you can see who got dirty hands.

silver nitrate is not poison, but that does not mean you should eat it. Cooking salt can also kill.
Here is a guy who took to much of it. I guess we can call him "Papa smurf"

I don't know how well it work with a person with darker skin pigmentation.

Silver Nitrate is used in extremely low concentrations to prevent gonorrhea and control nose bleeds, but silver nitrate is still very much toxic and corrosive. It can cause burns and severe irritation in high concentrations. Brief exposure will not produce any immediate side effects other than the purple, brown or black stains on the skin but I think your recommendation is a very bad idea.

The guy who turned silver did NOT consume silver nitrate. He turned blue because he suffered form Argyria, a condition he acquired by consuming Colloidal Silver, (a colloid consisting of silver particles suspended in distilled water). He died of a heart attack about two years ago.

 

[Dashmellow]

Thank you all for your input. A camera with a 6 hour recording capacity would also work, but only if it had the capability to continuously run during an 8-10 hour window while I'm at work. I leave for work at 7am, the mail usually comes around noon, and I'm home from work around 6. So any recording done from 7-11am is essentially useless.

About the dye pack idea--most people don't realize that those dye packs actually contain more than just ink. They're filled with chemical compounds that are designed to actually destroy the money. It would undoubtedly leave horrible burns all over the thief. I'm not trying to get sued.

I had already given the GPS idea a thought too. I'd be too worried about the accuracy of the tracker and how to hide it without the thief finding it and destroying it. I also think it would be difficult to get the police to come and investigate. And the tracker would have no residual value to me if I was able to recover it... Just a waste of money. The dash cam I'd actually use. Plus, I'd have to receive the tracker first, then mail a package to myself. So far he has only stolen Amazon packages... Which makes sense to me because Amazon is one of very few companies who will go ahead and just send you a second package without hesitation. So s/he may be stealing the package while thinking "Amazon will send them a second one for free anyways, so they're less likely to care about the first one missing, or they'll just think it got lost when the second one arrives with no issues".

A video just seems like a much more convincing form of evidence.

Well, the dye pack idea was just a joke, never meant to be taken seriously.

The tracker idea was in earnest and I think it could have merit if done right but I can understand your thinking. As far as the cost of a tracker, this seems negligible to me when taken in context with the notion of having someone steal medicine shipped from out of the country.

I think your best option might be a well hidden remote lens Mobius camera connected to a battery pack using a 64GB microSD card. A set-up like that would be very stealthy and could run as long as twenty hours or more with a decent sized battery bank of at least 10,000 mAh.

With such a scheme your most difficult issue might be how to hide the camera, lens and battery but it can be done. One fellow here on DCT caught a caregiver stealing from his elderly mother's pocketbook using a Mobius camera hidden in an old VCR. Outside your apartment door perhaps something like a flower pot or planter might do?

 

[erkme73]

+1 on the IP camera solution. Here's the result of a guy who happened to be watching as someone tried to snatch the package at his door...

 

[CheckYourLights]

I also recommend the IP camera solution.
What I would do is buy something like a D Link DCS 2330l. (You might be able to get away with a DCS-932L short term. It is the cheaper SD model)
I would then if you have a porch light buy one of these plugs(can be found cheaper at walmart)
Plug it in set it up and download BlueIris so that you can record the stream to your PC and watch it back if need be.

 

[Dashmellow]

I believe the OP said that IP cameras are not suitable for his situation, thus the request for other options. He said, "installing a home security camera is pretty much impossible." He seems to want a small, portable, stealthy and temporary solution. I think an IP cam of this design would be too obvious. It's a second floor apartment and he needs to monitor outside his door. He mentions, "I believe that the person stealing our stuff is living right across from us".

 

[erkme73]

I believe the OP said that IP cameras are not suitable for his situation, thus the request for other options. He said, "installing a home security camera is pretty much impossible." He seems to want a small, portable, stealthy and temporary solution. I think an IP cam of this design would be too obvious. It's a second floor apartment and he needs to monitor outside his door. He mentions, "I believe that the person stealing our stuff is living right across from us".

And we pointed out that IP cameras may STILL be the best solution. Just as an example, here is a $43 "small, portable, stealthy and temporary" IP camera that needs only 12V to provide HD video to his WIFI network. Which he can stream live to his phone, record remotely, and be notified when movement occurs at his door. NONE of which can be done via dash cam.

We don't know how extensive (or limited) the OP's experience or knowledge of IP cameras may be. So should we not propose a viable solution, if in fact, it's a better fit? We're all here to help. If the OP thinks these are bad suggestions, I'll take the deflection from him directly, thanks.

Or one even smaller...

 

[Dashmellow]

Yes, why don't you wait for the OP to reject the same idea again that he said in his first post he can't use and doesn't want.

@dkm16, if you live in an apartment that has a peephole in the door you might be able to install a peephole surveillance camera that would be completely undetectable and could catch your culprit. There are numerous designs, prices and options available.

 

[erkme73]

Yes, why don't you wait for the OP to reject the same idea again that he said in his first post he can't use and doesn't want

Now you're getting it... Let HIM speak for HIM. Bingo.

 

[Dashmellow]

Now you're getting it... Let HIM speak for HIM. Bingo.

Well, he started out asking about using a dash cam but the general consensus is that this would not be the way to go. Your suggestions seem like possibilities but if he's dealing with someone right across from his door even those options would get spotted too easily. Plus he says he can't drill holes or "install" anything.

 

[erkme73]

That may be the case, but the smaller camera could be attached with double-stick tape, or even using an existing screw that holds his entrance light up. There are lots of possibilities to circumvent his concerns about a rented dwelling. So to discount the idea of a much better (IP-based) solution without considering those possibilities may be shortsighted.

 

[Dashmellow]

That may be the case, but the smaller camera could be attached with double-stick tape, or even using an existing screw that holds his entrance light up. There are lots of possibilities to circumvent his concerns about a rented dwelling. So to discount the idea of a much better (IP-based) solution without considering those possibilities may be shortsighted.

Well, I guess the best we can do is make some suggestions and he will do what he thinks is best. It seems to me the challenge is that the likely culprit is right across from his door so unless a cam is well hidden in something else it will get spotted right away.

 

[erkme73]

Well, I guess the best we can do is make some suggestions and he will do what he thinks is best. It seems to me the challenge is that the likely culprit is right across from his door so unless a cam is well hidden in something else it will get spotted right away.

I have to wonder - what is the OP's primary mission? If catching (his neighbor) the thief is paramount, then being discrete might not be so easy with an IP-based camera. But, if the purpose is ultimately to ensure his packages are not stolen in the first place (considering how critical the medications are), then having an OBVIOUS camera at the door, acting as a deterrent is something that I would do immediately. Just ideas.

 

[Dashmellow]

I have to wonder - what is the OP's primary mission? If catching (his neighbor) the thief is paramount, then being discrete might not be so easy with an IP-based camera. But, if the purpose is ultimately to ensure his packages are not stolen in the first place (considering how critical the medications are), then having an OBVIOUS camera at the door, acting as a deterrent is something that I would do immediately. Just ideas.

You raise a good point. He seems to want to catch the guy. CCTV cams on my house and business have in general acted as deterrents for the last several years but at one time when I first installed this type of equipment I made it very discreet and this resulted in positively identifying a stalker/vandal who had been harassing me, so it cuts both ways.

Edit: Perhaps re-read the OP's initial post.

 

[SawMaster]

Good to have the crook caught, but best to avoid the problem I say. All we can do is offer advice and try to help- in the end it is the OP's responsibility to choose their options and live with the results. Sometimes there are no great options or you have to break rules to get what you want. I don't see much more ground to cover here so let's wait for the OP to return, hopefully with the good news that the crook has been caught and that we helped make that happen.

Phil

 

[K.S.]

Don't know if suggestions are still needed but I've seen some of these types of cam set ups:
1) inside cam is there is a window showing view of area needing watch,
2) non permanant outside type cams (Kickstarter Ulo for example https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vivienmuller/ulo),
3) doorbell cam! (Ring https://ring.com/) Neat thing I read was if it ever gets stolen they'll replace it for free!

 

[dash riposki]

I remember news reports years ago about a clever way a New Yorker used to get rid of his garbage during a trash workers strike near Xmas. He wrapped it up like christmas packages, and left them in the back seat of his unlocked, parked car. Miraculously, the 'packages' vanished.

I'd consider using refilling some of your old boxes and fill them with rocks, trash, enough stuff to make them seem heavy, and maybe valuable, and leave them on your doorstep.

Some sort of loud alarm inside the box that would go off when the box moved 20 feet away from your door or something would be kind of funny, also.

 

[Genki]

Box filled with gift wrapped dog poop and left as bait would also work.

Human poop would be much worse.

 

[kamkar]

There is a lot of ppl pooping in old UPS / amazon / whatever boxes tonight

 

[Deleted member 46308]

There is a lot of ppl pooping in old UPS / amazon / whatever boxes tonight

 

[kamkar]

I would if i lived in a house, plenty of ppl here that would grab a parcel just sitting there.