Help me convict a thief of a felony

Good Evening,

I have recently moved to a new state and unfortunately picked the wrong neighborhood to stage until I find a home to buy. I am having issues with thievery and after several trial and error set ups and hours of google I am reaching out to the experts in the field. I will make this as simple as possible for you and take whatever advice you can offer.

The facts: My mail gets stolen often. Very often. I have resulted to temporarily mailing my stuff to a friend that lives across town. While it is a solution until my lease is up in September... It is extremely inconvenient and frustrating.

The plan: Mail myself a box and record it getting stolen to fix the neighborhood thievery issues.

My needs: I want a multiple camera system so I can have front door (small enough to sit between a storm door and normal door 4-5 inches) rear upstairs window viewing the back parking area. I would not be against a 4+ camera system for other placement.

Also remember this is an apartment so I can't really drill holes and hide wires. I am perfectly fine with running extenstion cables all over my house. I prefer a wireless set up for obvious reasons. Back up SD card storage would be a plus. I DO NOT want to pay for a cloud service. I want it all in house.

My wasted money ventures

$249.95 Sharx SCNC3905 :: While it is a nice camera... I did not realize how big it is and the cable will not fit between the door and the molding for inside the storm door.

$189 Flir FX :: Also a nice camera. It fits my needs EXCEPT for the fact that my door is too far from my router in order for it to connect and upload to the cloud. Local storage is limited to the 8GB card it comes with. I tried inserting a 64GB card and the camera wont recognize it. No doubt on purpose.

So I am tired of wasting my time and money. I am ready to go full blown with a complete set up and a DVR or whatever. I just need something easy to set up and take down for when I have to entertain guests or maintenance persons. I dont want wires running everywhere since I cant actually hard wire it all in.

Thank you in advance for the help

Hi. I don't think you need to go full blown CCTV for your problem.

We had a similar problem in West Virginia in January .... They knew the person but needed more evidence.

First call and see your post office manager and explain what your going to do.

First make up a parcel with a mini tracker in it and leave it in your post box (you need to let your post master not to collect it from your box) also it's best if the theft is delt by your post office than you.

You can pic these up for $50 and they will alert you as soon as parcel is moved from your box ...... They only have a battery life of 22 days but only take half hour to recharge.

I would make yourself a small parcel of a old cell phone. Remove the battery from the cell and insert the tracker and super glue it all closed

So the problem with that is I found my first stolen box in the woods behind our complex. It had been opened and rummaged through and discarded. My wife is a dog groomer so it was a $390 box of scissors and brushes etc. I need to catch them in the act. Not so much figure out where the box goes.

So the problem with that is I found my first stolen box in the woods behind our complex. It had been opened and rummaged through and discarded. My wife is a dog groomer so it was a $390 box of scissors and brushes etc. I need to catch them in the act. Not so much figure out where the box goes.

Hi. You will catch in the act as the tracker will alert you as soon as it is moved from your postbox

That is assuming I am not out of town or working a 10 hour day. I dont have the luxury of sitting around waiting for a thief. I need something that has my eyes for me while I am not at home.

This is what I normally recommend for throwaway temporary solution.

Get a dashboard camera. They are pretty cheap nowadays.

Some of them support 2 cameras, 1 integrated with the unit, the other vie a cable (supposedly for back windscreen). Use whichever type that suits you, there are tons of choices.

Put in SD card, set it on motion recording.

They are small, easy to hide.

If power source not available, get a power pack (those that you use to charge mobile phone on the move). Get 1 with capacity that fits your need.

Or get 2 so you can charge 1 and swap the other one.

When your mail go missing, just take the SD card and playback.

Excellent suggestion. That is what I will do. Thank you!!