help with neighbors from hell

[TechBruhE]

I live in a somewhat rural small town of about 500 people, give or take, and for the past few years ive had problems with one of my neighbors in particular, a family of 5, they have taken scrap metal from my back yard, dug up remains from a burn pile in my back yard and then dumped it INSIDE of my garage, they swapped my city trash can with theirs, theirs was half broken, among other miscellaneous things, so about 2 years ago I built a privacy fence, I don't make a lot of money and live alone so it took about 7 months to build, its about 4-500ft in circumference I think, anyway while I was building it they refused to move their things off of my property, so I paid 650$ to have the property surveyed, they said they would move their stuff, about 2 months later they set it on fire and pushed it farther onto my property. as I continued building my fence they drove their vehicles between the posts and parked in my back yard. I left 18' from my fence to the property line so that I wouldn't have to be on their property for maintenance and so they wouldn't use my fence as their personal storage, well they have been anyway, last year I sent pictures to city hall and had the police talk to them about the property line, they moved their stuff for a few months, then put it back. they keep adding more leaning up against the fence, mowing the past month has been a challenge on that part of the property with all their things in the way. they recently put up a garage about 5 feet away from my fence which isn't to code. tonight I was mowing and they had parked one of their cars, literally against my fence. I took a picture with my phone. ive been thinking about putting up cameras to record them, maybe a monitor mounted on my fence, with a message on it for them, just curious about some cheap ways to do such a project.

[Droidbot]

get a cheap ip camera, something like a xiaomi from china works fine if you run a custom firmware on it

you can pick them up for around $20

 

[The Sloth]

4 minutes ago, shawnhovde said:

putting up cameras to record them,

a pi surveillance system http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-as-low-cost-HD-surveillance-camera/

http://lifehacker.com/create-a-multiple-camera-motion-sensor-controlled-surv-1753841433

https://www.geek.com/tech/the-raspberry-pi-makes-a-great-diy-surveillance-system-1683395/

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-82494/l/raspberry-pi-smart-surveillance-monitoring-system

5 minutes ago, shawnhovde said:

monitor mounted on my fence, with a message on it for them,

a laminated piece of paper would be better for that task, your monitor will most likely get stolen. 

[TechBruhE]

is that battery operated or would I need power?

[elkenrod]

From the tone of your post, you seem to me like a very nice person.  Perhaps you are too nice about it. 

If I can know this about you, then your neighbors certainly know this.

 

 

[Droidbot]

Just now, shawnhovde said:

is that battery operated or would I need power?

you'd need power iirc

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-Smart-1080P-WiFi-IP-Camera---White-374672.html

code XIAOMIF makes it $21.99

https://github.com/samtap/fang-hacks

this is the mod tool that makes it stream over the network using rtcp, so you can use a large amount of apps instead of the chinese xiaomi home app. put it on an sd card and you're done. it streams sound and video over the network and the camera has leds for night vision. also has movement detection, etc.

 

[TechBruhE]

2 minutes ago, elkenrod said:

From the tone of your post, you seem to me like a very nice person.  Perhaps you are too nice about it. 

If I can know this about you, then your neighbors certainly know this.

 

 

thanks, on the inside, I really hate them though.

[TechBruhE]

10 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

a pi surveillance system http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-as-low-cost-HD-surveillance-camera/

http://lifehacker.com/create-a-multiple-camera-motion-sensor-controlled-surv-1753841433

https://www.geek.com/tech/the-raspberry-pi-makes-a-great-diy-surveillance-system-1683395/

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-82494/l/raspberry-pi-smart-surveillance-monitoring-system

a laminated piece of paper would be better for that task, your monitor will most likely get stolen. 

thanks, those links are a lot to read, didn't think id find this much this fast.

[TechBruhE]

11 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

get a cheap ip camera, something like a xiaomi from china works fine if you run a custom firmware on it

you can pick them up for around $20

 

probably going to get at least one of those

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, shawnhovde said:

thanks, those links are a lot to read, didn't think id find this much this fast.

that is basically a cheap low power brain, all you need is a bunch of cheap webcams.

[TechBruhE]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

that is basically a cheap low power brain, all you need is a bunch of cheap webcams.

so is the brain just inside that camera? (top link) I'm expecting them to destroy the camera(s) so I'm going to need the brain inside my backyard so I still have the recordings.

[elkenrod]

So the webcams catch them doing stuff the OP already knows they are doing.....

 

step 2 is call the cops?

[TechBruhE]

Just now, elkenrod said:

So the webcams catch them doing stuff the OP already knows they are doing.....

 

step 2 is call the cops?

yeah but if they destroy/take the camera and the data is saved inside it, might not have any proof of destruction of property camera-wise

[Droidbot]

Just now, shawnhovde said:

yeah but if they destroy/take the camera and the data is saved inside it, might not have any proof of destruction of property camera-wise

remote recording and saving

 

it's a thing

 

plus these guys sound like they don't know what an SD card is so yeet

[elkenrod]

1 minute ago, shawnhovde said:

yeah but if they destroy/take the camera and the data is saved inside it, might not have any proof of destruction of property camera-wise

 

I can't speak to the software of the camera you are considering, but the webcam software I use allows me to save data to an FTP server or the cloud.  You're covered as long as you don't save only to the SD card on the camera.

[TechBruhE]

27 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

you'd need power iirc

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-Smart-1080P-WiFi-IP-Camera---White-374672.html

code XIAOMIF makes it $21.99

https://github.com/samtap/fang-hacks

this is the mod tool that makes it stream over the network using rtcp, so you can use a large amount of apps instead of the chinese xiaomi home app. put it on an sd card and you're done. it streams sound and video over the network and the camera has leds for night vision. also has movement detection, etc.

 

hey droidbot think I would be able to use a raspberry pi to record footage from that webcam?

[Droidbot]

Just now, shawnhovde said:

hey droidbot think I would be able to use a raspberry pi to record footage from that webcam?

yeah definitely, use an open source tool like openRTSP and the fang-hacks and you'll be able to remote record

 

[TechBruhE]

Just now, Droidbot said:

yeah definitely, use an open source tool like openRTSP and the fang-hacks and you'll be able to remote record

 

thanks

[TechBruhE]

theres a kit at the local microcenter for 50 bucks but it has TLXOS RPI and Raspbian Pre-installed, newegg has one for 56 with noob pre installed, does it matter that ive never messed with a pi before which version I get? theyre both open source free operating systems right?

[Shog]

Pro tips: Sue them in small claims court for $5k. (No big deal, no lawyers, etc.)

Then when they keep doing it sue them for a lot more in general district court. Harassment, emotional distress (this significantly changes your behavior), etc. 
They won't pay when you win small claims court, that's just so you have more going for you in the big leagues. 

That being said by all means have their vehicles towed (private company will make THEM pay for the towing). You can also burn their shack, etc. but I recommend going the legal route if you don't fear for your physical safety. (I personally don't, other people very well may) 

I would recommend suing them over restraining orders and other things. 1) You get money 2) You have a great case so far with lots of police paperwork 3) Hitting someone in their pocketbook is a lot more effective than giving them another piece of meaningless paper. Hell, who knows, maybe you'll score a free house and some land in a couple of years from it. 

[TechBruhE]

2 hours ago, Shog said:

Pro tips: Sue them in small claims court for $5k. (No big deal, no lawyers, etc.)

Then when they keep doing it sue them for a lot more in general district court. Harassment, emotional distress (this significantly changes your behavior), etc. 
They won't pay when you win small claims court, that's just so you have more going for you in the big leagues. 

That being said by all means have their vehicles towed (private company will make THEM pay for the towing). You can also burn their shack, etc. but I recommend going the legal route if you don't fear for your physical safety. (I personally don't, other people very well may) 

I would recommend suing them over restraining orders and other things. 1) You get money 2) You have a great case so far with lots of police paperwork 3) Hitting someone in their pocketbook is a lot more effective than giving them another piece of meaningless paper. Hell, who knows, maybe you'll score a free house and some land in a couple of years from it. 

Thanks, I'm going to look into this. Friday I'm going to get a ip camera @ microcenter get more evidence.. but I'm unsure about the hillbilly tow companies around here making them pay for it... I could have the property re-surveyed and have him paint a line over everything.

[Tsuki]

i had a similar issue with my neighbors a while back. i took all of their shit that was on my property and took it to the dump.

when they called the cops i just told them it was on my property so i assumed it was mine.

never had an issue after that

[Scruffy90]

You can stoop to their level (need to see how far they're willing to go before doing this) and just dump their stuff,etc.; get your county cops and county/city agencies involved(like building dept for garage not up to code); or move. I went through this a few years ago and it was a losing battle for me. My neighbors were a bunch of jailbirds who did things like they had nothing to lose. I ended up moving after 10 years of the same nonsense.

 

Installing a surveillance unit it a good move. Just keep back ups of whatever nonsense they do should they feel the need to escalate it. 

 

Good Luck! 

[TechBruhE]

19 hours ago, Scruffy90 said:

You can stoop to their level (need to see how far they're willing to go before doing this) and just dump their stuff,etc.; get your county cops and county/city agencies involved(like building dept for garage not up to code); or move. I went through this a few years ago and it was a losing battle for me. My neighbors were a bunch of jailbirds who did things like they had nothing to lose. I ended up moving after 10 years of the same nonsense.

 

Installing a surveillance unit it a good move. Just keep back ups of whatever nonsense they do should they feel the need to escalate it. 

 

Good Luck! 

thanks, for now I'm just going to get some security cameras and go from there.

yeah the thing is they aren't jailbirds or anything, they have a lake house down south, a dock and a big boat, they're just stuck up assholes. they actually have a huge yard on the other side of their property, they're just specifically doing it to piss me off. 

[Guest]

On 5/16/2017 at 5:32 PM, shawnhovde said:

thanks, for now I'm just going to get some security cameras and go from there.

yeah the thing is they aren't jailbirds or anything, they have a lake house down south, a dock and a big boat, they're just stuck up assholes. they actually have a huge yard on the other side of their property, they're just specifically doing it to piss me off. 

Hope you have luck. 

 

My neighbors harassed us and let their aggressive dog wild until the police came, and hit them with 3 unregistered vehicles on the property and almost took their dog away with a ticket for the loose dog and animal abuse. 

 

Now their house foreclosed and the neighborhood is much quieter. Sounds cruel but when you grow up being chased by baseball bats, kids kicking in your door and similar events, you strike back calmly with the court as you have done. The ideas for vandalizing their belongings is not the best of ideas. 

 

Posting private property signs and taking pictures of the car with the license plate, in addition to the above recommended court reports could turn this into a profitable fortune that will hopefully leave you happier when they make leave. 

 

I'd invest in a firearm and locking your house a bit too as these people kinda know where you live. Security cameras stat!