Vandalism in West Easton happens occasionally and prosecution has been almost non-existent due to offenders acting under the cover of darkness and homeowners being asleep when it occurs. Over the years, damage from vandalism has resulted in broken windshields, slashed tires, graffiti, theft, and other costs incurred by homeowners. Even borough property hasn’t been immune. Vandalism in our parks occurs each year, with the most recent incident being a 4-wheel drive vehicle doing donuts on our ball field.

Though we may take care in protecting ourselves and watching out for our neighbor’s property, we all can’t be on watch 24/7.

The answer is security camera systems. Once only affordable for businesses, or those with thousands of dollars to invest in systems that provided poor images recorded on VHS tapes that had to be changed daily, the digital age has changed all that. Today, surveillance systems cost less than $300 for one that includes 4 cameras, if you’re willing to do your own installation.

Digital Video Recorders (DVR’s) are not only inexpensive, they can record up to 30 days of video on a hard drive and the better systems have cameras that can provide images of individuals that make them identifiable to law enforcement. Specific segments of time can be transferred to a flash drive through a menu on the DVR, and the flash drive then given to law enforcement for their review.

The DVR acts like a home computer in some respects. The DVR can be connected to a monitor of its own, or to your television for viewing while you are at home. Many systems have the capability to be connected to the Internet, so that you (or anyone you approve) can view your systems real-time recording while you are away from home. This can be accomplished by using a regular computer from another location, or even from your smart phone that has access to the Internet. After the hard drive is filled to capacity (in about 1 month) they automatically re-record on themselves, beginning over the oldest recorded date first.

Cameras now use Infrared technology to capture images in darkness and the cameras can either be directly wired to the DVR, or wireless. While most systems provide stationary, wide angle cameras that record decent images within 40′, better cameras can be purchased individually. The more advanced cameras allow the user to pan, tilt, and zoom images (one at x22 zoom) at your leisure from either the DVR, remotely from another computer, or your smart phone. Zoom capable cameras can read a license plate from 200′ away during daytime hours, depending upon the zooming power. On my system, I switched out one of my provided system cameras for a Zmodo Surveillance CM-Z2213GY 1/4inch CCD 420TVL 22X Zoom PTZ Camera. It gives me the ability to watch any activity in my neighborhood more closely and in any direction I need.

Installation is fairly easy and you don’t have to have a professional install it, if you are able to use a drill, plan your wire routing in advance, and are able to follow directions that are provided with the full systems. The better manufacturers provide customer support to help you connect your DVR and will be able to remotely set up your system for viewing on the Internet, if you run into difficulty with the technical side of things.

I’ve installed the Defender SN502-4CH-002 Feature-Rich 4-Channel H.264 DVR Security System with Smartphone Access and 4 Indoor/Outdoor Hi-Res CCD Night Vision Cameras on my own home. At less than $340.00 it was well worth the small price. Not only do the cameras cover all the areas of my property, my camera placement sees some areas of my adjoining neighbor’s properties. Signs warn potential thieves and vandals that a security surveillance system is present. The lighted LED’s seen on the cameras at night let any potential “problems” know that they are being watched and have been recorded. If they are determined to cause problems they choose to move to a home without protection and away from my never-sleeping eyes.

If all homes throughout West Easton were known to have security camera systems, thieves and vandals would find another town to target.