'We're watching everything that goes on this street'
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Steve Daniels was fed up with crime in his neighborhood after burglars stole jewelry, credit cards and other belongings from his office in the middle of the day.
“We’re gonna get ‘em. If police are overstretched and they can’t do it, we’re going to catch them,” said Daniels.
Daniels and his neighbors along Northwest 24th Avenue are adding extra eyes to help spot suspicious activity and crime on their block. They decided to mount 24-hour web cameras along the street.
The cameras record video when they detect motion. Daniels said the cameras caught suspicious cars casing the area and a potential car prowler in the last week.
Across the street from Daniels, Jason Neuman set up cameras that stream live to his laptop and smart phone.
“I want to take more of a proactive approach to monitoring the neighborhood,” said Neuman.
“We’re watching everything that goes on this street,” Daniels said. “We’re taking this really serious. We’re letting people know we’re not just gonna sit here and let you terrorize us.”
On Friday, Vancouver resident Garrett Williams called 9-1-1 after he spotted two people checking out his neighbor’s home in Hazel Dell.
“It looked like they were staking out the place, kind of checking out the different cars that were in the area,” said Williams.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 20-year-old man and a teenager after a chase.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office says if you see suspicious activity in your neighborhood you can call their anonymous tip line at 877-274-6311.
I have cameras all over my house. Two more neighbors are getting them. In the future we will have about 50 cameras in our neighborhood.
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A whole set of 4 cameras with recorder can be purchased for as little as $300. Bigger sets can be as little as $500. Granted they are not stellar cameras but they do a reasonable job.
I have cameras pointing out both the front and rear of my condo. Â I also use motion detector lights outside. Â We all need to do this now.
I like this neighborhood's DIY attitude to stopping crime on their street.  Reading these comments is making me feel a little better. I've seen a tremendous jump in the amount of property crimes in my immediate neighborhood
in the last few months.  I have lived here 20 years and it has been very quiet. Now I see it is just not a problem
in my little world, but everywhere unfortunately. Misery loves company.Â
We were robbed a month ago and another neighbor was robbed 2 weeks before that. We can't afford to put in cameras or have monitering but we are going to put on window/door alarms everywhere we can. We found them at
RadioShack for $11-14 for 2. We also bought some1/2'' plastic pipe and cut them to fit every window. Also, get to know your neighbors and talk to them. Let them know what is going on- we have done that and we are all now on the lookout for a small white pickup truck that has been coming into our neighborhood. At our crime watch neighborhood meeting the deputy that spoke said to have a phone tree with people down either way of the street so that if you see someone pass by your house and you are suspicious, let them know that someone is heading their way and to keep an eye out.  Â
Wish more neighborhoods could afford to do this! I'd love to do this in my neighborhood.
does it have meth head or ghetto thug recognition software built in to it?
Now add some automated machine guns with armor-piercing bullets and synchronize them to super-high resolution optics. 100% head shots! Yeah! No more crime in THIS neighborhood! And that guy with his damn leaf blower at 8:00 AM on Sunday? History! Yeehaww! ;-)
Sounds like a good neighborhood to live in.! Â Â The time is past when we can depend totally on the police to keep the bad guys from getting to us; there are w-a-y too many bad guys and not NEARLY enough cops. Â Â So this is about the only way we have left to "level the playing field". Â
Nothing quite like stepping up to the plate as a neighborhood to keep an eye out, or in this case, even more eyes. I agree with an earlier poster, you can obtain kits at Costco, or I'm sure almost any bigbox store that specializes in home improvement or electronics. You have to take some pro-active measures, quite often though, people allow themselves to be a target by not locking the doors. It sounds like there are some good neighbors here that are trying to protect themselves as well as the neighborhood.
Kudos to these neighbors for working together to make their neighborhood safe. They are a great example of the type of involvement needed in all neighborhoods and our community.Â
COOL!
Every breath you take
and every move you make
every bond you break
every step you take
I'll be watching you
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Kudos to the neighbors for getting involved.  Got to echo the earlier sentiments....this is the type of involvement that will make crime rates in a neighborhood go down.  Solid neighbors helping each other, keeping an eye on things.  Only other suggestion I'd make would be for them to post signs that announce the neighborhood is under video surveillance.  Give the bad guys a good excuse to go somewhere else...
@'CouvGuy I dont think I'd post signs that its under surveillance only because I dont want the bad guys go someone else and do something to someone else. Not to say I want my home or car or whatever damaged or stolen, but if I had the means to capture said invididual and get them off the streets I'd want to do it and save someone else who might not have the means to lose something valuable.
 @cantcurestupid I disagree.  I WANT them to go somewhere else.  Sorry, I'm not going to sacrifice my safety and be the easy victim just so some slimeballs don't commit crime somewhere else.  I have cameras and signs and alarm stickers all over my house, and the hardware is tested and watchful anytime I'm not home.  Now, if everyone was as observant and good at making criminals feel watched and unwelcome......wouldn't that be something.
 @cantcurestupid ....I guess I could just shoot 'em.  That would resolve the problem......That was sarcasm, folks.....
@'CouvGuy Im not judging you or faulting you for your choices, and yes if everyone was observant and had the means to make criminals feel watched and unwelcome that would be something, but not everyone has that ability and the criminals know that. So they target those invididuals and your security system, while protecting you, is doing nothing to help resolve the problem, it's just pushing the problem somewhere else. It's your call and I totally understand your choice to put your personal safety above others, like I said, not faulting you at all. I just personally would chose to resolve the problem by removing the criminal from the equation, then no one has to worry anymore.
Good for them, one of the biggest reasons that crime and violence flourish in ghetto areas is the fact that the residents won't protect their homes and families and are at the mercy of the criminals
 @archon312 I don't think it's restricted to just the "ghetto/hood" areas. I think it's possible that in any neighborhood, especially if people become complacent, there is a chance of criminal activity.
 @archon312 I'm not worried about the ghetto area...I'm worried about my neighborhood. I think the video camera idea is great. Going to look for one today. Anyone have a suggestion on a good one for home use?
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 @LongTimeLocal  @archon312 Costco has some pretty reasonable "do it yourself" kits.  If you can run the wires, it's pretty easy stuff to do.  There are also wireless solutions.  Lastly, many of the local alarm companies are all over video surveillance.  I'd call a couple and get some quotes.
It's good to be proactive, I just hope they don't overreact and do something stupid. Especially if they're wrong in their assessment. Not everyone on your road is there to rob you.
 @Lips Don't worry...I'm sure if you ask these solid folks won't annoy you with any observations they make about activity around your house....;-)
 @'CouvGuy That's good, cause some of my friends look a little shady. ;)
 @Lips  @'CouvGuy I covered the exterior of our new house with cameras that run all the time.  We have over a month of recording time on the camera hard drive, then it just loops over.  So, at any time we can go back about six weeks.  I used to peek at the cameras several times a day, now I don't pay attention to them....;-)
 @'CouvGuy  @'CouvGuy LOL.. True. I may be confusing them with myself. When I first set up my cameras, I became obsessed with watching the footage. I nearly had myself convinced the house down the road were dealing meth, when they actually had a craigslist add for free kittens. Who does that, has people come to there house for that? I'm over it now. I only look If something Is happening, or Has happened.
 @Lips  @'CouvGuy Kidding aside, I don't think there's anything wrong with being observant and calling the cops if something looks funny.  I don't think anyone's talking about coming out with guns blazing.  These guys sound like the kind of neighbors I'd want to have.