In the case of the drone, it's just a geeky toy that will be inevitably marketed via fear-mongering, so they can collect even more data on you.
I once had my residence burglarized. The police came hours after they were called and stayed long enough (10 minutes) to write a report that took me weeks to get which essentially said "door kicked in, owner said these things gone." That was it: no attempts to follow up with my neighbor that had security cameras, no attempt to run fingerprints on the metal pipe that was found outside that was almost certainly used to break the window, nothing.
If your surveillance drone doesn't get a crystal clear picture of the face of the person who broke into your house, absolutely no one is going to attempt to pull prints or tracks or DNA samples from what it captured. And even if it did get a crystal clear picture, you'll be lucky to get someone to look at it.
This is the purpose of the visit - to verify that it was a real break-in and not someone scamming their insurance company. Catching the thief is nowhere on their priorities.
I got the distinct impression that even if I did jump through hoops to provide a DVD that they wouldn't be seriously investigating the theft. The officer who took my statement basically said as much.
Police in many places don't do all the things that they do on television anymore.
In some cities, burglaries may not get a police response for days, if at all.
Police departments all across the country have to juggle finances. Sometimes this means deciding what types of crimes get investigated, and which do not. When I lived in the capital of a medium-sized eastern city in the 90's, the mayor and police department had a very public back-and-forth with a big list of crimes, and placing a red line on that list deciding what the police will look at and what they wouldn't.
For example, until last year, police in Las Vegas dropped car crashes from the list of things they would respond to. Unless someone was hurt or killed, they were deemed civil matters and people were supposed to take pictures and let their insurance companies figure it out.
None of what you're claiming is an argument against using cameras, though. Including the insinuation and logical fallacy that the only experience I, a lay judge within the Norwegian justice system, have with police work is through television........
You won't believe how often camera surveillance footage comes up in court cases, and how often they are instrumental in deciding those very cases. That you have an underfunded police force has exactly nothing to do with camera surveillance. In fact, knowing that is actually a giant argument for getting more surveillance cameras(!), since it's such a big help in solving cases and convicting criminals.
Add to this that I've travelled quite extensively, including in countries with severely underfunded police forces, such as in Bulgaria and Romania, or worse, Serbia. There I've seen up close how such underfunded police work. Yeah, surveillance footage; it's even more important in areas with underfunded police! So if you choose to not install cameras, that's up to you, pal. But don't complain to me when you're making sure that any burglary towards your house becomes unsolvable because you refused to install them...
Frankly, that’s fine by me: putting enough police in place to investigate every incident of property crime would be exceptionally wasteful and would drive up overpolicing of certain communities to a ridiculous and dangerous degree. All I really needed was that report for insurance, after all.
Making them prioritize burglaries or robberies without increasing their manpower might force them to reallocate resources from overpolicing certain communities to doing actual, useful work that makes everyone safer. Sounds like a win-win to me.
But then again, I'm not an expert. Maybe the amount of labor allocated to investigating property crimes currently is appropriate and increasing that might take focus away from violent crimes.
Yep. In some jurisdictions, you file burglary reports over the phone. Police don't even come out. They've prioritized burglaries out.
It's better to focus on making sure it's not worth someone's time to get in. Such as keeping expensive, easy to grab, items out of sight. And then just have good locks and a loud alarm.
Adding a camera should be the last thing you do to your setup.
For a theoretical investigator. Police departments don't have the money, manpower, or time to do gait analysis on a burglary suspect. And outside of China, is that even considered evidence in a real court of law?
Crime goes by some skewed power law distributions and a relatively small number of people do most of the crime in any given area.
As an aside, security camera footage of a crime in your house is also great for your criminal defense (if you are going to use violence against the intruder) and for pressing a claim to an insurance company. If the intruder pulls a gun on you and you shoot him in response on camera, you can use that piece of evidence to get charges dropped against you or to prevent the police from even recommending charges in the first place.
When I go away, I put my old launch-day iPhone on a dock and aim it at the food dish. I has an app that polls that camera and checks for movement. If movement is detected, it sends a series of stills to me by e-mail.
The app is no longer available on the App Store, but it keeps working because the iPhone is too old to connect to the App Store and be told that the app no longer exists. But I should think that there's a modern equivalent out there somewhere.
Nice! But also sad that this is the only way one can keep running a desired app in this day where an external corporation controls what one is allowed to use.
I think they're really handy for monitoring the status of routine household tasks, though.
"Did I get a package today? What time does the mail normally arrive? How is the dog doing? Did the garbage truck come by yet? Did the storm do any damage while I was away?"
Most of that sounds like the side-effects of FOMO.
Did I get a package today?
Unless you live in a neighborhood or building where packages get stolen, who cares? You'll find it when you get home. If it's important, you have a tracking number and know if it was delivered.
What time does the mail normally arrive?
Who cares? My office window overlooks the mailboxes, and it comes at a different time every day. As long as it comes.
How is the dog doing?
He's fine. And if he's not, you'll find out when you get home.
Did the garbage truck come by yet?
Who cares? Even when I had an HMO, we had eight hours to get the trash cans off the curb.
Did the storm do any damage while I was away?
Nice to know, if it's a tornado. But again, there's nothing you can do, so why do you need to know? It's not like you're not going to push a button on your phone and magically lift your patio set out of the neighbor's pool. If you come home and see flashing emergency lights, then yes, there is damage.
Some packages will fit in my mail slot. Some packages won't fit and will sit outside. If I bought something that could be damaged by water, and it is sitting outside in the rain, I might drop by the house to move it inside. If it is safely out of the weather, I can save time by not doing that.
> Who cares? My office window overlooks the mailboxes, and it comes at a different time every day. As long as it comes.
I have used the data from my cameras to find out that my mail comes on a fairly consistent schedule. If I am expecting an important letter (especially something that might be a prereq for other errands I have to run), this can be helpful information to plan my schedule in a way that saves time.
> Who cares? Even when I had an HMO, we had eight hours to get the trash cans off the curb.
I live on a hill, so it's nice to put my cans away promptly so I don't have to chase them down the street or retrieve them from the middle of the road. When they're empty it's easy for them to blow away.
> Nice to know, if it's a tornado. But again, there's nothing you can do, so why do you need to know?
I disagree with this more than anything. Plain ol' thunderstorms or winter storms can do significant damage, and if the damage is to the roof, a window, or a pipe, the resulting water damage could be exponentially more extensive if it isn't remediated quickly. I have some family who were on vacation when a pipe burst -- if they would have caught it quickly, it could have been mopped up and shut off. Instead they had to stay in a hotel while their interior was gutted and replaced.
Or alternatively, if you have a camera, you can find out immediately and come home.
I use mine to find things I've misplaced. Saved my ass the other month when I was running late for a flight but couldn't find my keys.
You were running late for the flight. Couldn't find your keys. Presumably pretty panicked. And you sat down and watched multiple streams of cameras to see if you might see yourself putting the keys down somewhere?
Also, being late for a flight doesn't make me panic.
Or sometimes I just forget to take them out of my pocket.
What does your health care plan have to with getting talked to by the home owners association?
Reminds me of how in the 80's, Radio Shack used to sell fake car alarm stickers.
Those aren't as useful as you might think.
I grew up in NYC, and in the late '70s/early '80s, people put all sorts of stickers and signs on their cars.
One time, I even saw a car with a broken window and a sign (presumably from the window that was broken) reading "No radio. Nothing of value."
The person who broke the window (at least I assume it was them) helpfully jotted "Just checking" on the sign.