Neighbor aiming camera directly into my backyard

Hello, I joined here last summer and did a few posts asking about cameras. At that time we were having a problem with the neighbor behind us, he admitted to tresspassing and we told him to stay out. A few days later my son's expensive bike was vandalized so then we installed a few cameras which have so far kept the jerk out of our yard. My yard has a privacy fence down both sides and the gate is kept locked so nobody could have gotten in except from the nieghbor's yard behind me.

He has 2 cheap bullets installed on the back corner of his garage and the one cuts across the back corner of my yard. It sees at least 20 feet into my yard, possibly more. He has it there solely to film my yard as he has told anyone and everyone who would listen that he is getting it all on film, that I am putting down pesticides and killing his garden with the runoff etc. Of course I had never put down a single thing and he was killing his garden with too much attention not to mention that we had rain 27 out of 30 days in a row last summer. Everybody's garden was having trouble.

Last week I was in the shower and we keep the window open since we don't have an exhaust fan and I see this idiot come outside and he takes the other camera that sweeps from the back corner/side of his garage up towards his house and turns it 180 degrees in the opposite direction and it is now aiming directly into my yard and at my bathroom window. Well, apparently he wasn't quite happy with it and went to adjust it again and broke the spindle off and has not replaced that part yet. I anticipate that he will fix it and aim it right back into my yard. Does anybody have any advice at all how to deal with this problem? I am at my wit's end with this neighbor from hell. He thinks he owns my yard and even told me I can't put down pesticides, he'll just hop over and weed whack for me. He has called the city on me every time I turn around and they come out and say everything is fine and they don't know what the heck he is complaining about. Can he really film directly into my yard like that? We are definitely putting the privacy fence up across the back asap, weather permitting. But he would still be filming right over top of it. As far as I can tell he has no other cameras on his property for "home protection" as he put it, none on the front of his garage or anywhere on his house. What to do? Anyone ever had a situation like this?

1. Have you seen your neighbor's camera's output video? Depending on the lense, and the distance, you might only be a distant blur moving accross the screen.

2. Let me get this straight. You have a privacy fence, and he has placed his cameras high enough to see over the fence? Simple. Fuck with his plan! You get some blue tarps and some 2x4s or metal pipe. Rig a cheap "privacy fence extension", and when someone asks, just say you are airing out the tarps to prevent mildew and rotting.

I would have to be a real bastard.

I would get a bunch of four, and five year old naked girls to play in a pool, or a slip, and slide, and call the police, and point out the cameras.

I want to know why a pervert is pointing a camera at these girls!

I am sure the cop will tell you that you need to put bathing suits on them, and you can give the "it was an impromtu swim" speech.

I guaranty you that cop will really want to talk to your neighbor!!

What do you think?

Oh! Please ignore the other post that come along, and tell you to use a laser to damage the cameras. That will just bring you down to his level.

Damaging property is one thing even if he is a jerk.

Making him explain why he is vidoe taping naked young girls is another!!!

I want to see the expression of the wife/girlfriend after the cop leaves!!!

Make sure you get a copy of that police report!

1. Have you seen your neighbor's camera's output video? Depending on the lense, and the distance, you might only be a distant blur moving accross the screen.

 

2. Let me get this straight. You have a privacy fence, and he has placed his cameras high enough to see over the fence? Simple. **** with his plan! You get some blue tarps and some 2x4s or metal pipe. Rig a cheap "privacy fence extension", and when someone asks, just say you are airing out the tarps to prevent mildew and rotting.

Hi, thanks for your reply UMDRanger. To answer you, no I do not have a privacy fence across the back yet, but I do on all other sides of the yard. His cameras look like the standard bullet type with led's although he doesn't have the led's on at night. I know because my cameras would see the beam from them and there isn't any beam. I could post a picture if someone tells me how to do that. I do know for sure the cameras are working because every time that creep knows I'm out there alone he comes running back there. The cameras are mounted on the back corner of his garage and that is about 65' or so from the back of my house. I have 2 cameras mounted on the back of my house and I am pretty sure if he had windows in the back of his garage and was living in there I'd be getting a pretty good show. I will be putting in the privacy fence just as soon as the ground thaws so that we can set the posts, and yes we have actually discussed building a rig with tarps.

Scorpion your post made me lol. I don't know a bunch of 4 or 5 year old girls but I do watch my sister's 8 year old twins from time to time and no I do not let them out in the yard because of this ass.

I am tired of being a prisoner in my own home and now he thinks he's going to film into my house as well!

He has thrown food (feeds every racoon, possum and rat in town) into my back yard, garbage, and now believe it or not, pine cones. He's doing it at night from behind his little privacy fence he has built between his garage and shed. He's very sneaky.

So far we have never set food on his property, nor damaged anything of his but he is constantly back there policing everything, it's just ridiculous.

He's also divorced twice and does not have a girlfriend at the moment, gee I wonder why!

Someone did suggest using a laser but I said hey, we can't complain if he does the same thing to our equipment then can we.

I haven't told you the half of it and I won't bore everyone with gorey details of all the crap he has pulled so far.

I strongly suspect that when he turns that camera back on us and I put up my privacy fence, then take him to court for invasion of privacy and harassment that he will just resort to using covert cams on us. That's just the kind of creep he is.

Wouldn't it be so much easier if he would just grow the hell up. He really is the neighbor from hell.

air rifle & scope *cough* *cough* 4.5mm metal BB's *cough* 10+hits each to completly shatter *cough**cough*

CSI Las Vegas would be out with the trajectory sticks, and laser sight, and they would back track, and have you arrested before the first commercial.

Crooks alway seem to get away with crime, and the good guys always get in trouble with the law! Why is that?

a focused high beam light will kill that camera........even during the day if set properly.

don't physically mess with it..............light it up.

I do feel your pain. I have had an annoying neighbor in the past. Luckily I can be devious beyond compare... They backed off in short order!

How about setting up all kinds of whirligig type devices all over the yard to keep his harddrives spinning? It will make it more difficult for him to search for motion (i.e. you in the backyard) on his system. If he keeps popping up soon after you go out back he probably has an alarm set on motion to keep tabs on you. The whirligigs will make that annoying real quick.

If it were my neighbor he'd be looking at my new privacy screen by now. I think I would play about 105 db's of fingernails on a chalkboard by day. (8am to 10pm (or whatever local laws allow)) and 135 db "cat fight" type noises randomly throughout the night. I realize 135 db's is likely to cause uncontrollable bowel movements and I'm sorry. But hey, you want him to hear it don't you?

Privacy Screen

C7 in CA

Please turn those damn speakers off! Please!

I can only take so many repititions of the "Chicken Dance"!

I do feel your pain. I have had an annoying neighbor in the past. Luckily I can be devious beyond compare... They backed off in short order!

 

How about setting up all kinds of whirligig type devices all over the yard to keep his harddrives spinning? It will make it more difficult for him to search for motion (i.e. you in the backyard) on his system. If he keeps popping up soon after you go out back he probably has an alarm set on motion to keep tabs on you. The whirligigs will make that annoying real quick.

 

If it were my neighbor he'd be looking at my new privacy screen by now. I think I would play about 105 db's of fingernails on a chalkboard by day. (8am to 10pm (or whatever local laws allow)) and 135 db "cat fight" type noises randomly throughout the night. I realize 135 db's is likely to cause uncontrollable bowel movements and I'm sorry. But hey, you want him to hear it don't you?

 

Privacy Screen

EPIC POST.

I would do my best to catch his actions on record. If he's throwing things in your backyard, he is in violation. Get that on video, then call the police. When they come and you show them your recordings, ask them to look at his cameras while they are over there having a talk. Mention in passing that he has one aimed at your bathroom window. I find that giving the police just enough info to start their imagination will do wonders in a case like this. I think you should certainly do everything you can legally, like installing a UF 500 Infrared emitter aimed directly at his cameras.

I'm sure that neighbor has good reason to have cameras up. Maybe he has had serious theft, tresspassing and vandalism. Or plain simple the same reason you have cameras...to keep an eye on your property and if anything happens he can kind of tell whom did the acts.

How do you know that his cameras are pointed in your direction? The cameras can be looking at other places too.

Afterall you failed to have a privacy fence?

Which country and state are you in?

Now you leveled the playing field buddy, you said you had cameras..aren't you guilty of invading his space too?

You should be an adult and have a chat with this guy nicely. Now his grievence is just with you or other people? Put up some nice PTZs, catch him in the act of vandalism.

I'm sure that neighbor has good reason to have cameras up. Maybe he has had serious theft, tresspassing and vandalism. Or plain simple the same reason you have cameras...to keep an eye on your property and if anything happens he can kind of tell whom did the acts.

 

How do you know that his cameras are pointed in your direction? The cameras can be looking at other places too.

 

Afterall you failed to have a privacy fence?

 

Which country and state are you in?

 

Now you leveled the playing field buddy, you said you had cameras..aren't you guilty of invading his space too?

 

You should be an adult and have a chat with this guy nicely. Now his grievence is just with you or other people? Put up some nice PTZs, catch him in the act of vandalism.

IF you bothered to read my original post you would see that we had to install the cameras AFTER he admitted to coming into our yard anytime he felt like it and after we had property vandalized.

I am not invading his privacy, I am monitoring my backyard because he has left me no choice. My cameras see my back yard and the back of his garage, the back of his shed and the back of the privacy fence he has built between them.

He on the other hand has his cameras installed 65 feet from the back of my house and he had one of them aiming directly AT my house. He has repeatedly told neighbors he is "getting it all on film" how I am putting down poison chemicals and the runoff is killing his garden. He is a liar, I have not put anything down.

Also he has ZERO cameras anywhere else on his property except on the back of his garage so he can film into my yard. So please don't tell me he may have had problems with tresspassing and theft. If that were the case why would he be ignoring the front and side where the entrances are and why no surveillance on his home...

I should be an adult and have a chat with him. Now why didn't I think of that??? Maybe it's because there is no having an adult conversation with a 55 year old man that acts like a three year old having a temper tantrum. We've heard the bull**** and lies he's said about us to the neighbors, they've told us and we've heard some of it with our own ears. He likes to talk about us at the fenceline to anybody who will listen. Apparently he doesn't realize we have ears too, and you apparently think I have no brain.

The man is nothing but a lying busybody who can't stand that he can't control what goes on over here. And FTR we did have a talk with him, we told him to stay out of our yard and there would be no problems, he said alright and we left on friendly terms. The smear campaign against us started the very next day.

I would do my best to catch his actions on record. If he's throwing things in your backyard, he is in violation. Get that on video, then call the police. When they come and you show them your recordings, ask them to look at his cameras while they are over there having a talk. Mention in passing that he has one aimed at your bathroom window. I find that giving the police just enough info to start their imagination will do wonders in a case like this. I think you should certainly do everything you can legally, like installing a UF 500 Infrared emitter aimed directly at his cameras.

Thank you Erron for your reply. I appreciate your input and I just may get that UF 500. Would that disable his cameras even during the daytime? I know that I am not going to sit idly by and do nothing. My cameras don't see that great at night so it's hard to catch anything at that time, which also happens to be when he hides behind his little fence and tosses things over into our yard.

I do feel your pain. I have had an annoying neighbor in the past. Luckily I can be devious beyond compare... They backed off in short order!

 

How about setting up all kinds of whirligig type devices all over the yard to keep his harddrives spinning? It will make it more difficult for him to search for motion (i.e. you in the backyard) on his system. If he keeps popping up soon after you go out back he probably has an alarm set on motion to keep tabs on you. The whirligigs will make that annoying real quick.

 

If it were my neighbor he'd be looking at my new privacy screen by now. I think I would play about 105 db's of fingernails on a chalkboard by day. (8am to 10pm (or whatever local laws allow)) and 135 db "cat fight" type noises randomly throughout the night. I realize 135 db's is likely to cause uncontrollable bowel movements and I'm sorry. But hey, you want him to hear it don't you?

 

C7 don't I wish! We have a noise ordinance here and unlike that turd behind me I am a law abiding citizen to the best of my ability. Besides he'd be calling the city so fast my head would spin. He has called them repeatedly on me, to the point that I think they told him to stop bothering them. He does try and rally the neighbors to call but none of them are biting. For one, none of them can see into my yard and two, we keep to ourselves and are quiet, we don't bother anybody, ever. I do like the whirlygig idea and I will be putting that into action LOL. I will make sure to move them on a daily basis too.

a focused high beam light will kill that camera........even during the day if set properly.

 

don't physically mess with it..............light it up.

Hello VST_Man, thanks for your reply. Could you tell me more about this light? How bright, how focused, how far away can it be and still be effective?

Dont rule out the fact that if you do mess up his image in any way, it will be caught on camera, and if anything happens to his property (whether that be his doing, or someone elses) then it would look mighty suspicious, and the police may think you had something to do with it, especially if he shows them footage of you disabling his image with bright lights on purpose...

If he was sneaky he could damage something himself once he noticed what you did, and you would be the first suspect once the police see what you did....

Dont rule out the fact that if you do mess up his image in any way, it will be caught on camera, and if anything happens to his property (whether that be his doing, or someone elses) then it would look mighty suspicious, and the police may think you had something to do with it, especially if he shows them footage of you disabling his image with bright lights on purpose...

 

If he was sneaky he could damage something himself once he noticed what you did, and you would be the first suspect once the police see what you did....

Good point Kensplace and well taken. He absolutely is sneaky enough to victimize himself and try to make it look like we did it. He is the perpetual victim. That being said, what about my rights and privacy?

Don't forget I also have cameras and they would show that I never touched his property. They may not see great at night but they can at lease show if someone is coming or going over the fence back there. I definitely need to upgrade my cameras or illuminate for better picture quality.

Does anybody have any suggestions in the camera department? I would like a ptz but they can very pricey. Right now I have a cheap Speco IR bullet and a Nuvico CB-SD21N covering the yard but the picture is very grainy at night.

Put up a privacy fence on your property. If you can get some proof he's slandering you, you can start a lawsuit. in the united states, there is something called libel and a restraining order/good conduct stay away order Perhaps you can obtain both against him.

There are a number of threads regarding audio recording... perhaps you could check with your local authorities regarding the laws on recording audio along with your video.

Put up a privacy fence on your property. If you can get some proof he's slandering you, you can start a lawsuit. in the united states, there is something called libel and a restraining order/good conduct stay away order Perhaps you can obtain both against him.

Thank you slowforthecones. I have researched slander and it is almost impossible to prove or prosecute so most lawyers won't even touch it. The plan is to put up a privacy fence as soon as the weather warms up.

You really want to blind his cameras rather than damage them?

Focused beam-of-light would do it, with the spectrum dependent on what time of day you're attempting to block. A very bright light will screw up the white balance in his daytime images, and an IR light will screw up his night-time view.

For night-time use, maybe pick up a cheap IR illuminator (or laser) from Ebay and see how big the spot is. In the case of a laser, if the divergence (beam spread) is wide enough, and sufficiently low power, it won't physically burn out his camera... but it will effectively blind it. It's not unlike the "laser dazzler" concept currently being developed by US and NATO forces to temporarily blind opposing forces.

A bright light source focused directly on the camera from within the camera's view will effectively "bloom" out his picture.

Give it a shot. You'll know it's working if he starts monkeying with his cameras, or ***es at you about the lights.

EDIT: how high-end are his cameras? If he has wide-dynamic range, you may have more trouble. I can't find a good picture to adequately describe what I'm talking about.

Now that I think about it, I have an extra camera or two laying around, and a few lasers. I might have to trash a camera just so we can all see what it looks like.

Here's an idea of what a bright laser will do to a picture... found this on candlepower forums. Bear in mind that this isn't even directed into the camera lens; this is just backscatter.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8178/lazor002tt7.jpg

Is that the kind of effect you were looking for?

Your first problem buddy is you have lousy camera hardware. Drop the no name crap and buy a Bosch, Pelco or some brand name fixed camera with a decent 5 -50 mm varifocal lens.

Knowing your problems you probably want to invest in a Pelco DF5 or SpectraIV mini ptz dome recessed mounted under the eve/overhang of your house. You can zoom in and he'll never know where the camera is pointed plus they have great night time seeing capabilities.

I'm pretty sure a PTZ mounted high enough on your house, somewhere in a attic vent facing out or whatever would catch that guy causing trouble.

Goodluck and let us know how it turns out.