CCTV for Remote Location

Below is a list of suitable links for your use.

As for the solar power why not put the panels high up on a telephone pole and wrap razor wire round top half?

Bury storage batteries sealed or gel types and that's the power problem solved.

You could even put the gsm camera units on top of the poles then all you would need to secure is the poles.

Your solution is easy.

http://www.paramountzone.com/3rdi-cctv-mobile-phone.htm

http://eyeontheplace.com/

http://www.wcctv.co.uk/

http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0071130.html

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=vandal+resistant+solar+panels&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&oe=&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=fMjKS-bYK570nQORp5XCBA&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CCcQrQQwAg

If it were me I would put poles into ground with solar panels on top, just under these mount gel batteries, then put cctv pointing in appropriate directions with motion detectors connected to digital video recorder this way the cctv is looking for movement when the cctv sees movement it starts recording and calls you so you can see images so you can decide if its worth calling police or visit the site.

don't put any buildings near the poles to aid climbing it

at a height of 8 foot up place, razor wire mesh and again at 11 foot.

also place something at base to stop it being cut or burnt down.

ie cover it with sheet of steel.

and concrete cone of concrete at 45 degree angle to make climbing pole almost impossible.

you may be able to buy used poles direct from British telecom but you would normally have to collect.

Hope this has been of use

try these

http://cpc.farnell.com/

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&q=remote+site+products&start=10&sa=N

send me an e- mail for more

Thanks for all the links, you've been busy. The 3RDi camera is interesting, I like the way you can view it remotely by mobile phone, also the vandal proof solar panel could be what we need.

We've talked about mounting on poles but the site is not best suited to this. The location is a disused gravel works so the ground is pretty loose stuff. In addition the area is now used as a fishery & our store is between 2 lakes so the water table is only a metre or so down.

We could attach a metal pole to one of the containers but would still have to vandal proof as I'm sure they would just throw rocks at it or try to pull the pole down. They've completely destroyed a small caravan we had nearby.

Weld or secure pole to centre of container put uprights on container sides and attached rolls of razor wire to roof of container just in from sides, to prevent overhang.

this should stop persons getting access to roof and put them 5 feet away from base so they have further to throw.

you could cover the solar cells with a strong mesh box to further add protection you can buy strong mesh and bend it into a box shape.

the poles could be sunk into the ground but lined first with plastic sheet.

by the way telegraph poles are not buried much more than a metre down anyway

and after you have positioned the pole you could possibly move the containers to butt up against the pole on two sides then bolt two bars either side of the pole to give more support then cover the roof as above the containers would also put person further away from the pole thus affecting their aim.

the pole doesnt have to support much weight its there because its cheap and moves the cctv and solar panels away from the ground as high as poss

Time and money will solve most problems. Certainly Peter has provided a good number of options.

As you have explained your problems I wonder if the place is simply untenable for storage, for what you want to defend, and what you have to spend on that defense.

Sure enough the technology is available to power sets of sensors that will alert you or cops to an assault. Combined with steel bars, or plates made difficult and time consuming to overcome for access you may well secure the location.

If the area is remote, and there are only so many suspects with motive and opportunity, and the materials were carried away, and only have value to a certain set of individuals, then the case ought not be that mindboggling to solve by the authorities after the fact.

Course prevention of the event is your goal, and therefore your goal of making the storage area, while it is possible, may cost you more than it is worth.

Crimes are about motive and opportunity. Could well be that the local cops do know who has motive, and who has opportunity, and search warrants would eliminate those with evidence discovered of the crime, at least till the next set of miscreants are to arise.

"I wonder if the place is simply untenable for storage"

We are also looking at relocating but that is a major upheaval involving planning permission & re-licensing, assuming that we can find another suitable site. At the moment we have the site for no rent.

"the case ought not be that mindboggling to solve by the authorities"

The police have suspects but the attacks are not targeted, just vandalism. Other local building works & machinery have suffered similar problems. There seems to be little motivation by the authorities for punishing any of the youths that are caught.

Ive just had a really silly thought as well as the remote monitoring what about.

wait for it,

now this would only work cos you have a lot of water near by

what about a moat all round your site ?? dig moat wide to stop jumping across.

it will limit the attacks and will cost you nothing.

of course you will have to take a means of getting over the moat.

just a thought cost nowt

Drop some piranhas in the moat when it's done. That should take care of any slow swimmers who are trying to vandalize the place.

I like that idea, it would also give some more exciting sport to the anglers who use the lakes in season.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol22#pg1

See the article for The twitter cat toy can be adapted to a door tamper detector.

also the easy home control via web chat article.

I don't know how to set up a local remote network using a cell phone but am sure it can be done.

The best remote signalling that I have seen done with my work with the authorities involved marijuana growers using pagers for remote alert.

I have a small photocell battery unit that I use to charge one of my ipods,it can also charge cell phone too. I taped it inside my south facing window. And it stays charged on a day or two oof bright sun. with no sends, your unit should be in good shape.

Here is commercial solution: http://www.antx.com/Products/Messenger/index.htm

If you get phone signal you should get pagers. milo

Instructions to use cell phone to make wifi network for laptop to connect with above:

http://devices.natetrue.com/mobileap/

milo

Nigh

You describe "a store we have for the firework displays we do".

Just let them get in once - they will never trouble you the second time.
Taking the route of natural selection is very inexpensive, just as long as you have public liability insurance and the storage is an approved use of the land.

put some cheap "game cameras" all around the area.. About $100 + ea us...

low cost, low maintenance. .. great performance for the .. erm.. 'buck'

at each one.. post a little sign that there are more 20 or so of these cameras hidden within a mile of the area under attack / guard.. whatever..

then.. actually put these cameras out!... hide them well.. get shots of cars and people from anywhere you can...

put one in each container behind some thick lexan to get the initial point across..

you will know who is in the area.. the vandals will not know be able to spot and trash all of the "hidden" cameras.. (you fudge the number)

paranoid fear should take some of the fun out of their attacks..

..just an idea..

remote monitoring gives plenty of time for them to flee.

what about other ideas?

...Would an air horn.. a very loud one.. set up to blast when motion is detected drive them away?

It would suck when you drove up, but you can also turn it off..

There are some good mobile phone offers in place already with free call service on the same carrier.

Some remote Aus farmers use the phones to monitor stock trough water levels and thus only need to go there when there is breakdown.

Feed the signal into a pc and record sample of the time. Only cost is the mobile phones. These could be "hidden" in some un-interesting place at the site that provides view of the area of concern.

Maybe alternately, ask the local banks for proximity activated dye bombs and fit these into the packs of fireworks.

I had looked into this also, due to minor theif and such.

This is relatively cheap and dependable. I was looking to get something independent also with solar. and oput something together.

Try this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=67139

Great idea!

Then train carrier pigeons to fetch the DVR's.

Or a clay bird tosser to frisbee them back to you in town, since you have no internet.

I did not have the time to elaborated, but as a putz pointed out. Along with this, HF also have Solar panels, for powering, which I am sure like yourself is watching costs. The only thing that you'll come to realize is the same as myself. is the area is secluded. Motion detectors that turn on lights

If they, that being the identitiless gutless vandals, is what would stop them from damaging or stealing the solar panels, and breaking into the secured area were the video is stored.

The only other is a deterrent type tactics is making things questionable. With a smaller solar panel, cheap camera, and wireless processor. with a sign under surveillance off site.

Where do you draw the line. That is up to you.

I had some very good luck with axle grease. Kept the youths from climbing on top of the buildings. They got all dirty, and I infer that that they decided to try an easier, less messy target.

There is an anti-vandal paint. Does not dry. It can be found here which is a UK site which sells anti slip paint. The anti-vandal paint actually never dries, and it does not wash away in the rain. The vandals get all covered in the stuff. More information here.

Crushed hot pepper sprinkled on the floor worked a treat against the raccoons. Stuff gets on their hands, and then it stings. I never really configured it to deal with vandals, but the thought DID cross my mind.

It is actually illegal around here to make man traps. However, obstacles can be created in the path to make it miserable to poke around, particularly at night. Small holes, random boards, tangle foot of various kinds. Even barbed wire, or as it is known around here, bob wire. Bob wire link to various types here. Methods of installing them are easily found....for instance here. Dont they put broken glass on the top of high wall where you live?

You have fireworks stored in there. I guess the inclination to leave matches and candles for the vandals to use to inspect the storage space would probably be misplaced, albeit tempting.

We have anti vandal paint on the store that has a fibreglass roof, we plan to add an external steel mesh as well.

The nannies that run the country frown upon any devices that might hurt the little vandals, if we ever catch them we would try to teach them the error of their ways.

In another part of the country someone tried to break into a firework container using a disk cutter, I hear there wasn't enough of him left to prosecute.

I had some very good luck with axle grease. Kept the youths from climbing on top of the buildings. They got all dirty, and I infer that that they decided to try an easier, less messy target.

As you stated later in yuor post. One does not know what liabilities would be connected with this. If the vandals get hurt. Do not know about the UK, but in the States, if there is an intend to hurt, you could be in a legal bind yourself.

In the US, that axle grease being exposed to the elements would constitute potential stormwater runoff issue with EPA. Not sure what the fire marshall would think about it, or the local peta folks if they find out a bird got contaminated...

The trick is to get a timely signal when the perps are there, and the lack of internet seems to be the real barrier.

Booby traps are fun to think of, but by the time the lawyers and bureaucrats are through dividing your assetts among the vandals as damages, its just not worth it.

I'm surprised no one suggested feral cats armed with repeatiing chinese crossbows.

milo

"lack of internet seems to be the real barrier"

There's the possibility of a camera with a mobile phone link as suggested by peterg7lyq in his first post.

"I'm surprised no one suggested feral cats armed with repeatiing chinese crossbows"

I'll have to check this one with Del.

I did know some guys that put a voice activated battery powered tape recorder in their storage area. Checking it they overheard some with access discussing ways to rob the "warehouse". In your case, such a thing wouldn't be of much preventative help, but might be of some aid in identifying the culprits after the fact.

Does still seem that Peter has made some fine suggestions as far as technical options, Milo too. I still wonder if regular old detective work where motive and opportunity point to suspects, and visits by authorities to those suspects would at least inhibit them.

Typically such activities are symptoms of bored unsocialized youth with not much to do. Who knows, maybe a visit to the local school by a cop detective would turn up some gossip. Maybe a "Reward" for information posted at whatever hang outs frequented by the most likely set of perpetrators would produce leads.

Technology will fix many a problem, but sure enough it has its limits.

If the police are not concerned about taking action,
there seems little point in spending heavily on recording
equipment and ancillaries. (power supplies etc.)
They could use coat hoods, masks, etc anyway.

It may be better to scare them away, if possible. e.g.
For a few intermittent nights have a very nasty guard dog
(or two) tethered to the building, at least for a few nights,
then, backed up with a battery powered (cd or tape) player
playing many various snarls of vicious dogs?

Could be very effective at night; providing you use real (hire?)
dogs occasionally.

jt.

Does your dog bite? Ouch! I thought you said he did not bite?
That dog is not my dog.

GA,

in our City, people broke into a mini mart gas station set off the alarm and stole beer.

When the police arrived they found the door the thieves broke to get in, camera footage of the car, and the people stealing the beer.

They when to the house and investigated and saw empty beer cans and the people on the film. which denied it all. The cops did not arrest them, and told the owner of the mini mart, there is not much they could do? Because the reason they gave, they did not caught them in the act.

Which is very frustrating, what do you do?

i have had a thought that could be marketable,

contact me via e-mail link on webb page

you could rig some of these around the site.

safe grenades Now theres a contadiction

http://www.pyrogate.eu/airsoft-paintball/paint-grenade.html

One of these automatic paint-ball guns might do it but I'm not sure about the legality.

Thats a brilliant bit of kit, could sell that idea to the military but with live rounds.

Not sure as you say if it would be ok to use with our stupid laws.

that was why i thought the grenade was a good idea as its wont hurt anyone,and the dye is washable, but it may have once its been set of a few times and word gets round that its there, then peeps will stop attacking your site.

if it were my site.

1 moat

2 CCTV mounted on telegraph pole so i at least have evidential photos/video of the attack.

3 anti climb paint on tops of containers.

4 siren connected to CCTV. I know its a remote site but the noise will deter some persons.

you could also put signs up saying the containers contain poisonous chemicals

as i am sure most attacks are due to curiosity.

We're still looking at CCTV options.

We use anti vandal paint on the 1 container that is not all steel.

Maybe some attacks are curiosity, but others have suffered mindless damage like an excavator having all the dials smashed & the panels kicked out.

Yes mindless damage is a problem here as well and Tamworth is not remote.

the main thing that would help to get a good photo or video so that the person or person can be recognised, A lot of CCTV images are so bad they are a waste of money having them.

So the CCTV needs setting up so good images are recorded.

The Sentry is the same idea I had a while ago (only for military)
but it would not work here due to liability (e.g a child hit in the face)
and, when they use a shield, good bye your laptop etc. (nice idea though!)

I prefer the fired "net" - like the ones used to catch birds etc.
only my net would be covered in a treacle like substance. Very sticky.
It should delay their escape, and be unhurt by it until the police arrive.

It's difficult to maintain a sense of proportion when victimised like this;
with my vehicles needing a complete respray (not cheap) by mindless
vandals, my thoughts were not printable! Conclusion: a very sticky net.

The problem (IMO) is not surveillance but one of detaining the culprits
without actually harming them in anyway. My solution is a "spiders web."
That is, a net holding them immobile for a short time until arrested.
The trick is not to harm them in anyway, nor render them unconscious.

If you market my "net" please deal me in. Hope this helps.

jt.

Come into my parlour said....

"holding them immobile for a short time until arrested"

I think your experience of police reaction times is not based in the UK. For 'non-emergency' crimes the call-out time may be measured in days. I've seen news reports of people catching & holding criminals only to have to let them go because no police turned up.

A friend of mine had the same problem, and he solved it wit a CD player playing Mozart day and night over some loudspeakers. As there are no neighbors nobody will complain for repeating the same music over and over again! Just searched a bit in the net and found the´ve already done it in your country too! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4154711.stm Have a great day!

Don't you realize that Mozart is a popular accompaniment to fireworks and mayhem?

Not if you play Mozart´s Requiem Mass in D minor (K626)... as they probably will freak out and shoot themselves their marbles off!

This will doubtless be considered a namby pamby softy lefty liberal tree hugging solution, but it's cheap and it might just work.
Can we assume the vandals know what's in the store?
If so, maybe a notice with a contact number* explaining that the only way to get to use the fireworks is to apply for training and and do some work.
Now I know it may back fire (tee hee) but you never know if just one of 'em actually turned up to learn and do some graft, you may find the problem evaporated, you may also find that giving them something to do would change their outlook.
The other alternatives are just as problematic, if you 'catch' them at it what can you do? You can't start beating up young kids, and although the extensive use of projectile weapons is tempting it's a no no. Cooking and eating them is prob borderline illegal too
Whoops brevquot error.
Del

*Or e-mail addr or somesuch which wouldn't be susceptible to abuse.

We're not sure if they actually know what we store & the licensed store is the most secure, a steel container with 4 locks, the main one protected in a steel lock box. We have always tried to avoid advertising what the stores are for as we thought it would attract more attacks.

As for disposal, we have some funereal rockets with compartments for holding ashes, if they were cut into small enough pieces .......................

Good idea GA...biological warfare at it's simplest.
You don't often get an idea that is simultaeously good and a pile of $hite.
Del

GA. What the Cat said.

I have an inexhaustable (for the foreseeable future) supply of pre-loved feline litter, both wood-based and fullers earth-based, if that would help. Less easy to recycle than the bovine, equine or ovine equivalent. Porcine or galline would be the most effective - having a greater ollifactory range than the others.

The galline would probably eat through the steel of the store...

It's not a farm building, we have 2 ISO steel containers, 1x 60ft & 1x 10ft plus a lorry body. The site is a fishery, this is an old gravel works which now contains several lakes which are open to sport anglers part of the year. We are tucked away in a remote corner & have been there for 10 or more years. We've always had odd instances of vandalism but nothing too serious. This has only become a problem in the last 18months.

The remote location has always been considered a plus point when our annual license comes up for renewal but is now becoming a liability.

so.. of all the ideas? which ones are you considering? there are many good ideas.

as nice as it is to keep things tidy.. I'd be happy to mix some grease and paint to slather about. It's just nasty to think about that..

.. and put up some signs.. just suggesting that they are being recorded / monitored.

____________________

...maybe you could just put up a sign that says bait shop.

'closed' -be right back

We're looking at a couple of the CCTV suggestions, also trying to find out if we would be allowed to erect some fencing around the containers, something nice & spiky.

A real long shot I'm investigating is relocation, I've discovered that there is an old disused WW2 underground radar station nearby. I'm not sure at the moment if it is still accessible but I understand that it belongs to the local authority.

Thats good

If you need any help let me know if i can help.

I visited the site of this radar station but there is no evidence of it's existence & the area is now part of a country park. It's a shame because I managed to contact someone who had been involved in an exercise to enter the station, with permission from the local authority. They said that the underground building was quite substantial & apart from being stripped out, fairly intact.

I can see why an underground building might be very attractive. But its in a public park, so that might create worse problems.

If you had several more containers brought in to make a little storage park, you could convince other uses to pony up the cash to have a person walking around the area 24-7. The reason I suggest more containers is because I get the impression that there are other people than you using this spot, and the risk and costs can be shared. Secure storage is not cheap, and may be marketable.

Before dismissing this out of hand as too expensive or unworkable, I might add that exactly this solution was used at a storage facility just up the road from me. They were plagued by break ins and vandalism, and had to make a decision...either the stuff was not worth protecting or it was. The above solution has been in place for a couple of years now. They subsidized the cost by renting outside storage in extra containers, but they didn't say whether they actually MADE money on the deal. Because they were cagey about it when I asked them about it, I suspect they actually came out money ahead.

Yes, the underground site is out of the question now.

There are others on our site but not close by. As mentioned before, the main use of the site is as a fishery for anglers so it is a series of small lakes with trees & bushes between.

You have made me think however. There is a pallet business on site & we are just behind the back of their storage yard. I think they have a guard on site, perhaps he could be persuaded to keep an eye on our bit.

Put biohazard signs on it with the legend "HIV-AIDS Research Materials. Of course, if the yobs are illiterate, this won't scare them off.

A friend of mine bought a motion activated camera, one that is used for hunters and people interested in capturing wildlife. They normally attach them to trees and leave them there and come back and remove them to develop the film and see what wildlife or people walking through woods they captured.

You could hide one of these indoors and use that to take pictures. Only drawback is that the regular film model has a flash to it and the criminal would likely find the camera or get spooked and leave in a hurry. I think they make digital camera options that have night vision although I am not sure of their cost.

http://www.campbellcameras.com/, stealth cam prowler

Here are some to check out.

Only drawback is that the regular film model has a flash to it and the criminal would likely find the camera or get spooked and leave in a hurry.

Ah but maybe that's a good thing... A simple dummy flash so that they think they are being caught on camera. The prob is mounting it somewhere safe (I assume the container doesnt have windows)
Del

Quite right, no windows. Strangely, I saw one of these over the weekend on a nature programme, they were getting good images of wildlife.

I had another thought, perhaps one of those 'Mosquito' noise generators that can only be heard by those younger than 20 would be effective. I've contacted the makers to see if they do a non mains powered version.

The Mosquito people have advised that their device needs 15V ac or 24V dc at present but in 2 months they will be releasing a 12V dc version so that may be the way to go.

Nothing smells as bad as a few drops of Mercaptan! Combine this with a motion activated tar & feather dispensing device... and you´ll be done!

I like your idea. But try this one on. There are air fresheners that have motion sensors that spray any time someone comes into a room.

Using something along this line. Have a 180drg sensor on the each side of the containers with a few sprayers along the length of each side that sprays a "wet" spray up into the air to come down over an area were people even if standing close to the container will get misted with Mercaptan. Not only will the smell be around the area but with a little luck it be on the vandals too. The stench would be on them.

Have a remote to deactivate the system so you can get in. With battery power it would be self contained. Post anti-vandal/remote monitoring system. So long as the spray is not directed at someone. But up for the mist to settle down. So as not to hurt anyone. The main part of the mister could be just water with one or two small sprayers just to add the mercaptan to area for smell effects.

The water would spook the people the smell just adds to it. The idea behind my thoughts come from a device to keep animals out of the garden. It made from a water sprinkler with a motion sensor and water control valve. When the sensor see motion the valve opens the sprinkler activates spraying the animal spooking them away with minimal harm.

I can picture that, it sounds great but a little difficult to implement given that we have no mains power & no piped water supply.

Interesting comment though about the air fresheners, they could provide a ready source of motion detector.

Self-contained with a 12vdc auto battery. A water tank 15-25 gal w/12vdc pump.

Motion sensor in 12vdc most home security systems are either 12 or 24 vdc. Most setup inside container the spray nozzles plumed through wall or roof with a bulkhead fitting. Only thing out side would be a small nozzles paint/coat to blend in with structure.

Motion sensor is protected with a metal housing with a window slot for sensor to work. You could have several false shields around container just to hide the real one.

The slot would look like a machine gunner nest slot.

AS always this is an exercise in how to do something. I'm not responsible for any way shape or form for use or misuse of these ideas.

I like the idea of a machine gunner nest.

50cal full auto w/tracers

remote setup to work like any of the first person shooters console games.

put it online so the world wide web becomes your security system.