Connecting your webcam to your home security system is nothing new. Many homeowners with DIY home security systems use built-in or remote webcams as spycams that keep an eye on their property when they’re away. But just before New Year’s Eve, a woman in Colorado discovered the advantage of a webcam with a live video feed by accident. The woman, Claire, had set up her iCam in her bedroom so she could check in on her dog while she was away. However, when she logged in through an app on her cell phone, instead of seeing her puppy frolicking around her room, she saw a stranger rummaging through her belongings. Claire immediately notified the Denver police, who dispatched a team to investigate the matter. Unfortunately, they were unable to catch the thief red-handed. He managed to get away with Claire’s iPad and some other electronics. Later that evening, the video footage from the webcam was aired by a Denver television station in the hopes that a viewer might recognize the burglar. Claire was in luck: a viewer called in and identified the burglar as a 47-year-old local, upon which the Denver police was able to arrest him.
It’s clear that even when you set up a webcam purely with the intention to watch your pets, housekeeper, or nanny, you might be confronted with images of strangers in your home either when you check your live video feed real-time or when you watch the video footage later. And in Claire’s case, her puppy webcam unintentionally doubled as a home security system and led to the burglar’s arrest. Of course, occurrences like these are few and far between. It’s still much safer to install on a proper home security system that sounds an alarm when breached than to depend on chance. When you install a good DIY home security system, it provides you with the peace of mind that you and your property are protected. And when you have a professional security company install your home security system, you have the added knowledge that there will be an armed response if an emergency calls for it. For both scenarios, it’s still a good idea to mark your valuable properties so they can be returned to you in the event that they are stolen despite your precautions. If the police recover them later, they can track the stolen items back to you and return them.
