Local shop terrorizing neighborhood with race cars - Security Cam help

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
Hey guys,

I'm in need of some advice on a good low-budget basic security camera system.

We have a local speed shop in Wheeling that has a ton of highly modified track cars down the road and they constantly fly through the neighborhood at high speeds all times of the day. Last night was the last straw as one of them decide to drift around our cul de sac roughly 20ft from our front door at about 11 PM and race down a street multiple times. I've already contact the traffic Sargent for Wheeling, PD, but, I want to get this shit on video now. This has been going on/off for over a good year now that the shop is more well known and more and more cars go there. Neighbors are fed up as well.

The main street in the subdivision connects to a main road that either takes you to 294S or to 53N/53S and it is about 50 feet from our front door.

What camera system has at least a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, has auto night recording and good clarity and range? Not looking to drop big bucks, something in the $200-$300 range and I only really need 1 camera, but, I can utilize two cameras to cover both sides of the house aiming toward the front porch/street.

I was looking at something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JQ8Y4CC/?tag=tcg21-20

Any input is appreciated.

One thing to note, since I do have an association, I can probably get approval for a small system, so, the camera will have to be discreet and compact if at all possible.

Thanks guys!

-Chris
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
Stupid question maybe but have you tried going in there and politely asking them to stop? I know something like this is rage inducing but maybe if you go in there and talk to management they can at least know that they're being put on blast and people are fed up with it.
 

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
Stupid question maybe but have you tried going in there and politely asking them to stop? I know something like this is rage inducing but maybe if you go in there and talk to management they can at least know that they're being put on blast and people are fed up with it.

I tend to be anti-confrontational as I get very physical very easily. I've spoken to one of the members in PM on CMC and he gave me the impressive of no fucks given when I mentioned something about a shop car testing his ride out on our roads.

After speaking with the Sargent, he strongly suggested to avoid conflict and to let his local traffic cops contact them and intervene. I'll be honest and say I felt convinced the Sgt. was on my side and very understanding. I HATE being "that guy" but, enough is enough.

Camera wont do anything I bet.

In our neighborhood, there are no highly modified cars, let alone cars that are setup to perfectly drift and squat perfectly around our cul de sac, so, it is definitely their car. The camera is meant to record them going past our house which is very visible from the entrance and turn it over to the Sgt. I'm in contact with at the PD.

The other issue and reason for the cams, we've had two calls to police for suspicious characters peeking into peoples windows/garages at night over the past couple of years. I want to be safe and make sure my home has an alibi, so to say when we are not there.
 

rdsnake

formerly RD SNAKE
Mar 5, 2006
5,733
401
I actually have a brand new setup that I'm looking to sell. Amcrest 1080P system, 4 camera, 2 TB hard drive, auto/day night, can view from smart phone. NIB $400. Paid $500 for it. PM for pictures. I believe I posted on the TCG buy/sell FB page but not on the website it self.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

TCG Conspiracy Lead Investigator
TCG Premium
Jul 8, 2007
60,686
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Privy Chamber
Also how do you know it's the shop? If you know who it is, go record their cars parked during daylight or at night so you can compare property and prove its a certain individual.

Getting license plates at night is possible, just not easy.... But if you can get that information and then you see it's the same models/color then its easier to link the two
 

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
How much detail do you want? Are you trying to get license plates? Or just video of the activity?

Do you have a spare PC available to act as a "DVR" (technically a NVR for IP cams, DVR is for analog)?

As much detail as possible. What parts to specifically buy to get a basic setup.

I really don't have a spare PC, but, if you can recommend a hard drive compatible with certain cameras, I'd go that route.

Also curious on the speed shop/street, I live in Wheeling as well

TF-Works, now known as Touge Factory.

Also how do you know it's the shop? If you know who it is, go record their cars parked during daylight or at night so you can compare property and prove its a certain individual.

Getting license plates at night is possible, just not easy.... But if you can get that information and then you see it's the same models/color then its easier to link the two

I took some pictures of a license plate of a car I've seen drive through the neighborhood during the day.

My morning commute and commute home from work takes me right past the shop to the point where I can see every little detail of nearly every single car. This exact car was one that was parked in their lot multiple times, among other at least dozen cars I've seen roll through the subdivision to get to Palatine (Again, no through traffic allowed, but, they do it anyway) that I've come across many a time.

Kind of goofy, but, I am obsessed with details and my wife believes me to have good photographic memory. I have a keen eye for cars and am obsessed with observing and minding my surroundings. Partly due to paranoia and anxiety.

My intention is to get a video as I pass the lot of all of the cars and maybe do a fast walk around with most of them parked during the day and save the video to compare against a camera. Again, because there are so few of these cars within 5 miles of my house and how modified they are, most of which with TF Works or "Stance" stickers and decals, it's a sure thing.

I know of just about every car in my entire subdivision because I'm retarded like that. I can probably tell you the makes, model years in conjunction with the color of the car and wheels of about 70 cars that live along the roads in/out of my subdivision.
 

Grabber

Oh Hai
Dec 11, 2007
4,363
860
Wheeling, IL
To give you guys an idea on this.

The first image below is right over my house. The highlighted area is where this a-hole drove from, drifted around to proceed through Charles to Palatine.



This next picture is as follows: Red open circle is the shop's location. They can proceed north to travel through the subdivision by turning left at the first highlighted area. Or, they can turn right over the tracks to Wolf Road, then turn left and drive about 2 blocks to get to Palatine Road. The highlighted areas are stop signs and the red lines are stop lights depending on the route they take.



Makes no sense distance wise or time-wise to go through the subdivision.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

TCG Conspiracy Lead Investigator
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Jul 8, 2007
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As much detail as possible. What parts to specifically buy to get a basic setup.

I really don't have a spare PC, but, if you can recommend a hard drive compatible with certain cameras, I'd go that route.



TF-Works, now known as Touge Factory.



I took some pictures of a license plate of a car I've seen drive through the neighborhood during the day.

My morning commute and commute home from work takes me right past the shop to the point where I can see every little detail of nearly every single car. This exact car was one that was parked in their lot multiple times, among other at least dozen cars I've seen roll through the subdivision to get to Palatine (Again, no through traffic allowed, but, they do it anyway) that I've come across many a time.

Kind of goofy, but, I am obsessed with details and my wife believes me to have good photographic memory. I have a keen eye for cars and am obsessed with observing and minding my surroundings. Partly due to paranoia and anxiety.

My intention is to get a video as I pass the lot of all of the cars and maybe do a fast walk around with most of them parked during the day and save the video to compare against a camera. Again, because there are so few of these cars within 5 miles of my house and how modified they are, most of which with TF Works or "Stance" stickers and decals, it's a sure thing.

I know of just about every car in my entire subdivision because I'm retarded like that. I can probably tell you the makes, model years in conjunction with the color of the car and wheels of about 70 cars that live along the roads in/out of my subdivision.

Any PC will really work for just 1 or 2 cameras. The main thing would be hard drive space will determine how much video you can save. Software is free and allows mobile access. Then you'd just need to
1. run cat5/cat6 cable to where you want to mount the camera ($20-100 depending on length and how many cams)
2. Buy a poe switch (45$),
3. Buy IP outdoor HD 1080p camera (70$+ per camera)
4. Mount camera and add it to the software and configure.

If you add in a PC tower, you could probably find one for like 100-200$ that will work just fine and have plenty of storage for 5 days of recordings. Storage is easy to expand and super cheap nowadays. That would put you right in the 300-500$ range for a full setup with a couple cameras. The most money you want to spend on is the cameras because you are literally paying for quality of hardware and software development that went into them.

Can you PM me or post an image from Google maps of the street and house where the cameras would go and direction from where the cars come from?
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

TCG Conspiracy Lead Investigator
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Jul 8, 2007
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I may even have a PC I could sell you for 75$ that I used for 2-4 cameras as a test server. It's a small slimline Dell with a core 2 duo processor. I recently just updated mine to handle cameras and plex media streaming and the Dell couldn't handle both simultaneously.

I would pre-setup all the NVR software for you on it too.
 
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