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Ask Slashdot: Video Monitors For Areas That Are Off the Grid?
An anonymous reader writes "I have a cottage at the end of a long dirt road, no electricity nor internet, and recently some (insert expletive here) wads are using the area as a trash dump: countertops, sofas, metal scraps, tvs — all the stuff they don't want to pay to dump at the landfill. I can't block the road because it's a fire access. But I would really like to have a way to catch who is doing this. Are there any a) waterproof, b) self-contained, c) self-powered, and (ideally) d) inexpensive video-recording units out there? Are there any other creative ways to get the guys? I was thinking of something like a device that will cycle, so that the last week of video is recorded. It could take photos or video, and as long as it's small enough that I could camouflage it well, I suspect I'd be able to figure this out soon. And any idea of what my legal rights are to videotape or record?" Hunters have been doing this for years (with film, and now digital) to figure out prey patterns with cameras that are built for concealment; what else would you recommend?
You know you could ask the Govt if their drones are for rent...they have night vision, missiles and everything.
Put up the IR deer cams. Hide them because they will steal them.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Bushnell Trail Sentry 5MP Digital Camera
Seems like it's packed with features.
http://www.opticsplanet.com/bushnell-trail-sentry-5mp-trail-night-vision-camera-119305.html
Don't reinvent the wheel, hunters have already done the hard part. Check around for concealed hunter camera gear. Already camouflaged, and able to take stills or video...
America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1936
It's possible that the more recent dumpers don't even know they're not supposed to dump there; after seeing junk already piled up some may assume that it's a legitimate dumping ground.
A sign or two saying something like "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO DUMPING" might help, if you don't already have a sign like that which is being ignored.
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There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
A sign or two saying something like "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO DUMPING" might help, if you don't already have a sign like that which is being ignored.
Where do you live that it's okay to do this:
I have a cottage at the end of a long dirt road, no electricity nor internet, and recently some (insert expletive here) wads are using the area as a trash dump: countertops, sofas, metal scraps, tvs — all the stuff they don't want to pay to dump at the landfill.
Even if it is a dirt road, it's not your property and if you don't have permission to be leaving shit all over the place then you don't do it. Where do you live that you can just legally drive around and say "this looks good, I don't see any signs" and dump shit to rust and rot and look terrible? Am I the only person that is appalled by that?
I've lived in two states. I'm pretty sure you'd be fined and/or sued to high heaven if you were caught doing that on any property you do not own and pay taxes on -- even then TVs and metal scraps can permanently damage the environment if not properly disposed of.
My work here is dung.
Place signs around the area (they do not have to be large) saying, "Video Surveillance in Use." Make sure you clean up any existing trash.
If dumping persists, use a game camera to take pictures, then tack up some large prints of the perps dumping.
Something like this: https://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=video+surveillance+signs&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&biw=1173&bih=640&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8862164393585909605&sa=X&ei=okp0UO2UPMWXiAKB-YHAAQ&ved=0CGsQ8gIwBg
People really pay attention to little cues like this when they are doing something nefarious. Good luck.
I grew up in a semi-rural area so I know what I'm talkin bout here:
Figure out why your neighbors hate you and convince them to like you. Lets be realistic, middle of nowhere, nobody's driving 500 miles just to dump on your land... You pissed someone off who lives VERY nearby and the folks who could bust him are better friends with him than you. Fix that.
Talk to your local politicans and get fees removed from the community landfill. That's insane. Not legally permissible where I live, I believe by state reg, because the DNR doesn't want to spend $20000 cleaning up dumped motor oil as a result of "profit" they'd make from charging $5 at the landfill, not to mention it provides a profit motive for turning touristy scenery into a 3rd world wasteland. Sometimes a double taxation argument works... Govt already made 5% sales tax when I bought my motor oil, presumably they don't need another 5% to dispose of it.
Another thing I don't understand is I cannot throw out steel or metal anything without the local meth heads stealing it and getting money for it at the junkyard. Other stuff you're reporting sounds bogus. Goodwill accepts anything electronic and sometimes makes a profit reselling it. There's a veterans group who collect furniture, drive up to your house with a pickup and they unload "for free" although since they're doing "good" I slip them some cash (knowing its probably paying for their lunch instead of going in their treasury, and I don't mind a bit). The only thing I can kinda understand is the countertop, but only kinda. Like where do those come from? If its wood, burn it. If its rock, bury it. If its steel the meth heads already stole it. So...
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
The main point of the camera is to have firm information to give to the cops. They aren't going to waste resources doing an in-depth investigation over something like this. But if you can give them a license plate number and a picture of the guys, they are much more likely to deal with them. And if not you have everything you need to head to small claims court.
On your own property? To catch trespassers dumping garbage?
Jeebus, is our country so in the shit we need to ask that now? Why should corporations and the government have a right to surveil and that right be denied to us? Why is every sentence in this post a question?
Legally the only restriction is audio recording someone without their consent where they do not have an expectation to privacy. That means if they are trespassing or dumping illegally they should not have an expectation of privacy. Excluding audio removes any legal issues, but you may be in your own right to audio record them if it is your property.
Nah, you're not thinking. This is Slashdot - the home of the BSD toaster.
So, you get the aforementioned hunter cam, then you open the case, find the signal to that fires the camera, rig a opsoisolated switch to another relay circuit that fires off a couple of M80's and a small amount of thermite. Take the pics, wait a few seconds, fire off the M80's and the thermite. For extra fun, take a few more pics.
Bonus points for rigging explosions down the road on a tripwire or such so that you continue to 'fire' on the miscreants as the run screaming for their lives.
Use some imagination here, folks.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
And by party, I mean set off fireworks when they arrive. Use a trigger that I got from IED-using insurgents in Iraq. You can use two hacksaw blades in a hose that act as a switch when driven on. Have this trigger a rocket motor igniter that ignites a rocket motor that lights several fuses which then sends fireworks up in the air announcing their unexpected arrival. IIRC, you only need 3 volts.
That should be enough to scare them away. But you can also use it to trigger cameras too.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
The OP specifically wants to capture identifiable information such as a license plate. Beware that most game cameras have a very slow response time, that is, it could be 1 to 3 seconds after detecting "game" that they take a picture. This is OK for deer or other critters (I've captured shots of racoons and groundhogs) but may not be effective with moving vehicles. Please try before you buy.
The camera system worked great, but getting the trash picked up was left to him, and the cops wouldn't go after the dumpers. So he took an old pistol, loaded it with blanks, got a relay and hooked to the trigger, used the motion detector system to trigger the relay and put the whole thing where it was protected and hidden. And then put up a "trespassers will be shot" sign. That ended the dumping.
Republican leadership = Idiocracy
You could setup some nice wildlife cameras, but the police aren't going to do anything about dumpers. Even if you have clear photos of their vehicle, license plate, their faces, and them in the process of dumping. Best that you just put a gate up... or better yet, bury some 2x4s in the trail with screws sticking up out of them. If you have the time, and the dumping occurs frequently enough, maybe sit up one evening with your pump shotgun.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune