Vandalism - Dash cam advice

Jamiesmum

Tarambor wrote: »

How do you decide if it was the person who did the damage or just someone walking down the street from the video from the dash cam given that both would look exactly the same?

Well the cam has a sensor so if the car is knocked / damaged it would automatically turn on and save the footage. Then it would turn off again so by morning I would have 4 minutes worth of footage saved from that moment.

It won't record all night so it won't record everyone going up and down the street and if it did record it would still only save the moment it felt the knock to the car. 4 minutes worth of footage will be saved and not written over.

If I explained that right - this is my understanding of it.

Jamiesmum

Stoke wrote: »

Good luck. I was having my car vandalized and stupidly decided (against my better judgement) to phone the plod. They informed me that despite knowing who it was (apparently a serial vandal in the area), they weren't keen to do anything about it.

I said "no problem, I'll stick a dash cam in my window and record them and go above you, cheers".

"Oh Sir, I'm afraid you cannot do that. Operating a dashcam while you're not in the car amounts to voyeurism. We would have to remove that from you".

Yup That's exactly what I was told by Cheshire Police.

I can't work out if that is sarcasm or if you are serious?

They couldn't do that? Surely? If so why are we allowed the parking mode and surely this is the whole point, if a car hits and runs after hitting you in the night - it's better to have the evidence! Did you ever end up getting one?

neilmcl

Jamiesmum wrote: »

Well the cam has a sensor so if the car is knocked / damaged it would automatically turn on and save the footage. Then it would turn off again so by morning I would have 4 minutes worth of footage saved from that moment.

It won't record all night so it won't record everyone going up and down the street and if it did record it would still only save the moment it felt the knock to the car. 4 minutes worth of footage will be saved and not written over.

If I explained that right - this is my understanding of it.

The G sensor, as they're called, are designed to work when you have an impact. I very much doubt they'll go off if someone scratches your car or breaks your wing mirror.

McKneff

Yesterday I bought a Ring DC50 from screw fix, it was 39.99 plus a card for 12.99 from argos. . Seems to be a neat little machine. My husband says we should take it out altogether when not in the car because it will be stolen just like if you leave a sat navigation in the car. Can I have any thoughts please .

agrinnall

McKneff wrote: »

Can I have any thoughts please .

My thoughts are as stated in my previous posts in this thread.

Jamiesmum

neilmcl wrote: »

The G sensor, as they're called, are designed to work when you have an impact. I very much doubt they'll go off if someone scratches your car or breaks your wing mirror.

It definitely wouldn't for a scratch or any minor damage like that. I know this.
I don't know about if someone breaks a wing mirror. I would guess it would go off as it's still quite an impact to smash one properly off.

I'm hoping I never have to find out again.

McKneff wrote: »

Yesterday I bought a Ring DC50 from screw fix, it was 39.99 plus a card for 12.99 from argos. . Seems to be a neat little machine. My husband says we should take it out altogether when not in the car because it will be stolen just like if you leave a sat navigation in the car. Can I have any thoughts please .

Up to you. I'm going to leave mine in the car but just be aware if it's stolen then I doubt the insurance would fix any glass that may be broken. Depends if you only want to use for day to day driving? You could always just leave it in the glove box. I don't ever take my sat nav out the car. Do you live in a nice street? Only you can decide.

I've been cam spotting all morning and it would appear many leave them in the car overnight near me.

Nasqueron

neilmcl wrote: »

The G sensor, as they're called, are designed to work when you have an impact. I very much doubt they'll go off if someone scratches your car or breaks your wing mirror.

Indeed, I've turned off the car (so the dash cam shuts down) and then closed the door with a bit of energy and checked to see if the cam came on and it didn't (least the lights didn't come on) - it's a mobius though and the g-sensor seemed to be a software option in newer firmware so not sure how good it is - might not help the cam is held on with velcro to the bit in front of the mirror rather than say on a suction cup on the windscreen

EdGasket

So what will you do if you did catch someone on dashcam that you thought had knocked your door mirror off? Do you think the police will be interested?

A story. Someone down our road had their door mirror kicked off by one of three youths walking casually down the street. A neighbour saw this from her window and followed them (in her dressing gown) and saw them get into a car in the next road. She noted the number down and reported it to the police. Guess what happened? Nothing.

Stoke

Jamiesmum wrote: »

I can't work out if that is sarcasm or if you are serious?

They couldn't do that? Surely? If so why are we allowed the parking mode and surely this is the whole point, if a car hits and runs after hitting you in the night - it's better to have the evidence! Did you ever end up getting one?

Completely serious. The vandal targeted vehicles that had been left for more than a few minutes in the area so the whole "it stays on for 5 minutes" goes out the window. I also doubt that any G-Sensor etc would have captured this type of vandalism.

What I wanted, was to set up my camera so that it filmed both the front and the back of the car and have it catch this particularly unpleasant person in the act. As a serial vandal, I was convinced that two or three of the other people who had seen their cars damaged (in one case amounting to a bill of several hundred pounds) would support this and perhaps even follow my lead. I phoned Cheshire Police and received the response I gave above.

Stoke

EdGasket wrote: »

So what will you do if you did catch someone on dashcam that you thought had knocked your door mirror off? Do you think the police will be interested?

A story. Someone down our road had their door mirror kicked off by one of three youths walking casually down the street. A neighbour saw this from her window and followed them (in her dressing gown) and saw them get into a car in the next road. She noted the number down and reported it to the police. Guess what happened? Nothing.

Not even remotely interested. The fact that the person in my case was a serial offender, known for damaging cars in the area makes it even worse. The police were an absolute disgrace in that situation and I could go on even further but I better not.

People say I might have a cynical view of the police, but my view is merely a manifestation of some extremely serious incidents involving the police where they acted reprehensibly.