The GlowHouse uses high resolution video cameras on the front and back of its property to record activty, and we have signs out to indicate this. Over the years we've found footage showing activity including arson, domestic violence, assault, shoplifters, and even were able to recover a handgun that a shooting suspect ditched in our front yard. We are a big believer in Restorative Justice and seek to use and share such footage for healing and resolve criminal activity from a public health perspective as best we can.
The cameras we use are Reolink 5 MegaPixel Power over Ethernet Model RLC-410-5MP. Technical Specs These are the highest definition cameras available on the market at a reasonaboe lost of under $50 a camera. In addtion to the camera, you'll also need to get:
- PoE Router (make sure you only plug the PoE jacks into devices that are meant to receive power)
or
- 12V 2A Power adapter to provide power to your cameras (you may already have one of these in your supply of electronic parts
If you are going to put your camera outside a distance from your wall, you'll want to get:
- Ethernet cable that works outdoors/underground as needed
- Shrink Wrap to waterproof the connections between the ethernet cable and the camera (use a hair dryer to shrink it tight) (the camera's waterproof lid doesn't work)
Also, you'll want to either get a:
- 128 GB SD Cards to hold footage for each camera (optional if you use a Network Video Recorder)
or a Network Video Recorder to collect the data. There are two options:
- Reolink NVR, with either 8 channels or 16 channels, which run between $200 - $300
- Build your own server and install ZoneMinder open source network video recorder server (what we did). You will need a fairly beefy server and a good amount of disk space, but the options for review are excellent.
We were thankful to receive $500 to cover the expenses of cameras from the city!
Please let us know how it goes and ask any questions to Darrell or Jess!