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I'm in a high theft area and I plan to set-up three IP cameras: two outdoor and one indoor. Stealing the cameras is lucrative if the thieves know what they are doing since:

  1. They total around 10,000 PHP or around 180 USD.
  2. The settings are very easy to reset for resale; just press the hole with a pin.
  3. The SD card which stores the recording are housed inside the camera unit.

How do I prevent someone from just removing the camera?

I'm looking for a solution which:

  1. Does not obstruct the camera view (if there's a way to cage the camera in such a way, that is good)
  2. Keeps the camera maintainable; so no permanent welding.
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    Have you considered switching to a different type of camera which does not store everything on-board in an SD card?
    – brhans
    Oct 8, 2018 at 12:17
  • @brhans - Yes, I've considered but even so, it doesn't prevent the cameras from being stolen.
    – Helix Quar
    Oct 8, 2018 at 12:22
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    No - not one last time - but after that you'll have his face recorded and you'll know where all you other cameras went...
    – brhans
    Oct 8, 2018 at 12:31
  • Mount them too high to steal and wired cameras connected to NVR.
    – Tyson
    Oct 8, 2018 at 13:26
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    You are thinking of a security camera as a highly conspicuous thing that looks like a security camera. No, no, that's what the decoy should look like. A decoy only needs to look like a valuable IP camera. The real camera should be the most hidden thing possible, tucked up in the architecture and looking like something else entirely. The decoy should be in its field of view, so when they are stealing the decoy, they give a whole lot of face time to the real thing. You could use the parts out of a bulky camera to make the real camera, and use the shell as the decoy.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Oct 8, 2018 at 15:46

1 Answer 1

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There's a couple of ways to play this, depending on how easy it is to get above/behind the mount point above the camera

  1. Attach a smooth-face bolt to the bottom and put the nut above/behind. If you're mounting to a soffit or plywood, this is the best way to do it because you have no native access to loosen the bolt from the outside. All you see is the smooth face

  2. Use a one-way screw. Not impossible to remove, but not doable with hand tools

    enter image description here

  3. Use a non-standard screw head. Star bits are a bit harder to come by than Phillips or straight. There's even some rather exotic heads, with the goal being security through obscurity

Mind you, there's nothing to stop a determined thief from drilling the fastener out and taking the camera (which would involve noise), but these ideas should make it more difficult than using a regular pocket screwdriver.

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