Burglar Caught With Motion

What Happened

On 11 Jan 2007, a neighbor's house was burglarized while they slept. The burglar gained entry with a garage door remote control from inside of an unlocked vehicle. That morning, I reviewed Motion's videos from the early morning hours and discovered that the burglar had tried to open our vehicles as well. A copy of the video was given to the local police which showed the suspect and his vehicle.

Suspect on 11 Jan 2007.

Suspect vehicle on 11 Jan 2007.

On 10 Feb 2007, after reviewing the early morning video by mere curiosity, I observed the same man return to our driveway and once again try to enter our vehicles. He was once again, unsuccessful, and this video was also given to the local police.

Suspect attempting to gain entry to our vehicle.

On (or about) 18 Feb 2007, the local police observed the same type of pickup identified in Motion's videos parked in a residential area, and the suspect was arrested.

The Outcome

The family that was burglarized on my street were able to recover most of their stolen property including various electronics, ID cards, cash, and wallets. It seems this particular burglar has been quite active based upon the large amount of property recovered from his possession. One of his more recent victims was the home of a local police officer.

Several of the officers from the local police have stated that they were very impressed with the Motion setup, and have inquired how to set up their own system. Local residents have also inquired about similar systems.

-- AndrewHamilton - 21 Feb 2007

What is the setup motion is running on? ( system / camera type / framerate / etc ? )

-- EvilPete - 22 Feb 2007

Motion is running on Kubuntu Feisty with 4 cameras at the moment (3 at the time this happened). The camera that captured the burglar is a KT&C KPC-N600H with IR LEDs (can be found for about $200 (US)). Its framerate is 4fps with a resolution of 640x480. Each input on the capture card is processed using its own chip.

-- AndrewHamilton - 23 Feb 2007