Smile - You're Caught on Camera!

 Mike Bodnar investigates the rise and rise of doorbell cameras, and asks, are they any good?

A popular video doorbell.
Image: The Sun

Ding-dong! It's a sound that always makes us drop everything and head to the front door to see who it is. An unexpected parcel? A surprise visitor? The bailiffs again? We don't know of course until we open the door itself to find out. Or at least that's the way it used to be. Now of course we can see who's there from the safety and comfort of our home - or even overseas if we're lucky enough to be there - thanks to doorbell video cameras. 

While intercom-type doorbell systems have been around for decades, and ordinary electric doorbells much longer (since 1881 in fact), video camera doorbells only really captured the market big-time around 2012. Their rapid rise in popularity since then has been aided by developments in Internet and wireless technology, plus the fact that there is plenty of competition in the marketplace and prices have been dropping steadily. Home security has never been so affordable, or convenient.

But just how useful is video doorbell technology? The answer is both positive and negative depending on the circumstances. Let's start with two negative case studies, because bad news always travels fast.

Lorraine has a video doorbell camera installed at her suburban home in Surrey. It gives a good view of her driveway, her car parked outside, and the front of the property where the driveway meets the street. It also works at night, although the video capture is in black and white.

Caught in the act on Lorraine's video doorbell

One evening recently she was alerted to some movement out the front, and, on investigation, she discovered that a thief had come up her drive, grabbed her two topiary trees in their planters from beside the front door and had run back to his car and driven off with them.

Furious at the brazen nature of the theft (her front porch lights were on too), she took to social media and posted the video of the culprit stealing the plants in the hope someone might be able to identify him.

Social media quickly responded - not with a positive identification unfortunately, but with some helpful suggestions as to what to do next. Despite the modern camera, it was night, the culprit is a bit blurred in the video, and the logo on his shirt is not clear. His car, parked across the front of her driveway, is identifiable as to make and model, but no registration number is visible as it's seen side-on. Its colour is also unknown.

A better image kindly provided by a local

But one amateur sleuth noticed that a public bus had driven past at the time the theft was taking place and suggested that since buses usually have dashcams maybe the company could supply footage showing the thief's car's number plate. Someone else provided a link to the bus company's website, while another Facebook follower enhanced the culprit's image for Lorraine.

Many others shared the footage far and wide, and of course recommended she tell the police, which she had done.

Alas, when I contacted her about a week later, the plant thief was still at large and the case remained unsolved, despite an outpouring of community rage and concern. The bus company wouldn't provide their dashcam footage - citing 'data protection' - while the police, Lorraine says, hadn't responded. (Anyway, if they had caught the thief with the stolen goods he probably would have claimed it was a plant. See what I did there?)

Joking apart, Lorraine is very disappointed that despite the culprit being caught in the act there's not enough clear evidence for any action to be taken. The only good thing to come out of this is the way the community responded with suggestions, advice and of course sympathy. There are still some good people out there.

Case study number two is a cautionary tale, summed up simply as: if you've got a video doorbell camera, use it.

Jayne lives on our street where there's no private parking - everyone has to park on the roadside. Her partner's motorbike was outside her house on the kerbside, but one morning they discovered that someone had apparently backed into it, or even over it. The handlebars and front forks were bent, bits of fairing were detached, but - bizarrely - the culprit had picked the bike up and put it back on its stand a couple of car-lengths down the road before driving off. No note was left, no offer of compensation or admission of guilt.

Luckily Jayne has a video doorbell camera. Unluckily it was switched it off at the time the damage was caused. No evidence, no culprit, nothing. To say that she feels embarrassed and annoyed is an understatement, and you can be sure she will keep the camera active at all times from now on. But of course it's too late. The motorcycle has been written off by the insurance company with little prospect of recouping any costs. Her partner is still fuming. And hitching rides.

A trawl of the Internet shows there have been many, many instances where thieves have been snapped on camera, but not always caught in real life. Police responses to video footage from door cams vary hugely - some instances show police immediately recognising a culprit from previous offences, others demonstrate what appears to be a complete lack of interest.

Amazon have bought the Ring company and
are partnering with police departments.
Image: The Sun

Here in England in 2019, The Sunday Times and The Sun tabloid revealed that Amazon's Ring Video Doorbells were being offered to various police forces for them to promote to their communities - either handing them out free and/or offering discount vouchers for purchase.

 A Ring spokesperson was quoted as saying that its technology 'had led to amazing results,' while Detective Superintendent Andy Smith of Suffolk police added, 'This is massively powerful for us.  We have had at least four prolific criminals captured as a consequence of Ring doorbells.'

Media however also reported concerns from privacy and criminal justice watchdogs about the partnership between Amazon's Ring doorbells and the police, citing worries over privacy and the 'Big Brother' implications of the surveillance technology. The Guardian reported disturbing evidence that in the United States Amazon had even created press release templates for police departments to use in promoting the Ring partnerships, even going as far as requiring sign-off of any media releases by Amazon executives before dispatch.

A video doorbell with security concerns,
according to Which? magazine. 
Image: Which?

Meanwhile, consumer watchdog magazine Which? revealed that some of the cheaper video doorbell options widely available online are extremely prone to hacking, often not encrypting passwords. Some can very easily be stolen too as they are not hard-wired to the house, and then on-sold. In fact, just last month police in Poole, Dorset recovered 18 stolen video doorbells, possibly the most ironic example of theft given that the doorbells themselves are designed to deter thieves.

A Poole police spokesperson said, 'Following a spate of Ring doorbell thefts in Poole North, enquiries have been made at two addresses and suspects identified. Eighteen camera doorbells have been recovered today and I am in the process of linking these back with their owners.'

Oh the irony! Stolen security video doorbells.
Image: Daily Echo

Actual statistics of just how effective video doorbells have been in catching criminals however are hard to find. Usually such success stories either detail one specific crime caught on camera (such as this story, 'Delivery driver and passenger steal bike'), or vague statements like this from last year by Edinburgh police: '...[we] have been able to make "a number of good arrests across the city" thanks to the technology.' Well, two is a number, but how many arrests did they actually make? We don't know.

Of course, not everyone captured on a video doorbell is a criminal. Sarah, another Surrey resident recently snapped a man on her doorbell video who was doing a good deed. He had found her daughter's lost wallet and personally returned it to her. She said on a local Facebook group page, 'In the midst of an emotional meltdown ... I didn’t thank him enough. I didn’t ask his name, or offer any gesture for his kindness and I feel awful. He went above and beyond and his timing was perfect to allow us to make a really important appointment. Please let me know if he is in this group or on Facebook?' She included a very clear image of the man ringing her doorbell, and not stealing her plants.

Know this kind gent?

Despite being shared 228 times no positive identification has been made to date, though the kindness and honesty of the gent has elicited much praise from the community. In an update Sarah commented on Facebook, 'Sadly we haven’t managed to find him. I hope he realised in my moment of elation and frenzy that the effort he went to was truly appreciated and made a difference to our day. Thank you whoever you are.'

So, is a video doorbell effective as a crime deterrent and evidence-gathering technology? Obviously it depends how clear the image is, what has transpired, whether the actual crime was clearly caught and recorded, and whether the police show any interest in the footage. Good luck with that one. And that's not even touching on whether you as a householder have worries about hackers or Big Brother privacy issues.

In the end it's up to you the householder to decide whether the potential security benefits outweigh any privacy concerns, and whether you are determined enough to maintain your video doorbell security and keep it active at all times. There's lots to think about. Maybe the moral of the story is: don't make a snap decision.

Bordering on Ridiculous

Entering the UK from a dangerous Covid country has never been easier...

A black helicopter is circling our house as I write this. I suspect the pilot and observer are checking to make sure that our car is parked outside and that we haven't driven on an eyesight test to Barnard Castle. Because, you see, we are in quarantine.

Under surveillance...

Not because we have Covid or anything; our self-imposed lockdown is due to having recently returned from France, which is one of the places on 'the list' of Covid-risky destinations, and Liz and I are adhering to the strict confinement requirements for travellers returning from such plague-ridden countries.

I suppose I need to justify why we went there in the first place, as you might see it as irresponsible in these worrying times. In short, my father-in-law Reg, who lives in France, was turning 90, and we wanted to go and celebrate this significant milestone, or kilometrestone as they call them over there. And to do so we were quite prepared to quarantine ourselves for the mandatory fortnight on return.

So far it's not been a hardship as we'd stocked the pantry before we left and brought a whole lot of produce (and wine, of course) back with us, so we will cope for the two weeks' isolation, except perhaps for asking neighbours if they wouldn't mind grabbing us a broccoli and cauliflower next time they go shopping.

While we might sound thoroughly organised, the same cannot be said for the UK government when it comes to promoting or enforcing the need for prudence (as the French would call it, pronouncing it 'proo-darnce') on returning to this land of hope and glory. (You can't say those words out loud any more. Ed.) 

Cases of wine, not Covid

Because, as we discovered, nobody official seemed to give a damn that we might be bringing back two cases of Covid along with our eight cases of wine.

The only bit of officialdom we had to cope with was filling in an online government form - which we were obliged to do no earlier than 48 hours before returning to the UK border - which stipulated our personal details: names, address, contact numbers, so forth, and our travel plans. This then had to be downloaded to our phones, which we did, because - as we were sternly warned - we could face lengthy delays at the border if we didn't have this documentation. And it would be checked by border officials. Ooh, scary.

The form, once downloaded, included a barcode, which we assumed would be scanned upon our return and that we'd be given a lecture to drive straight to our place of quarantine and not stop anywhere along the way, do not go to a service station, or pass Go and do not collect £200.

'Border Force officers will scan the QR code...'

So what happened? Nothing. Nada. Zip. In the whole week-long sojourn, including travelling Folkestone-Calais-Folkestone on the Euroshuttle, there was not a single sign, billboard, announcement or personal reminder from immigration officials or anyone else that we must quarantine ourselves on our return. In fact, so much for needing to download the all-important form to our phones - when we reached Folkestone we drove off the train and straight onto the M20. Not a single person anywhere to scan our barcodes, not a single announcement even while we were on the train in the Eurotunnel, which would have been the ideal time to reinforce the measures as we were all stuck on board for just over half an hour and were the perfect captive audience.

Sacre bleu! Young people wearing masks!

The French themselves - at least the ones we came into contact with in the Rhône-Alpes region in the south-east - took their Covid measures very seriously. Masks were obligatoire everywhere, not just in shops but on the streets as well, and everyone wore them, even - gosh - young people. 

Supermarket checkout staff were behind screens, there was plenty of hand sanitizer available, social distancing was observed, and everyone seemed to accept the measures willingly. Since we did likewise we think it's very unlikely that we've brought Covid back with us, and thus far - almost a week after returning - we're showing no symptoms. A few hangovers maybe, but we can blame the wine for that.

We are confined to home for another nine days yet. We have heard anecdotally that one person who returned from overseas was phoned up by the police to ask if she was at home. When she told them she was they asked her to go to her front window and wave to them as they were parked outside. Sneaky, but effective. We've been waiting for a similar phone call asking us to go and wave to two of Surrey's finest since getting back but so far nothing. 

Except for the helicopter circling the house of course.

Postscript, 24 October:

Well, we reached the end of our two-week quarantine on Wednesday 21 October without any obvious Covid symptoms but also a complete absence of any authority checking that we stayed home. Boris owes us one.