Home Security Cameras & Systems

Entryways

• Place cameras where they can see anywhere near where a person can enter the home, usually this means doors and larger windows.
• Place cameras where they can see anywhere near where a person can enter the home, usually this means doors and larger windows.
• The red zones indicate the views of strategically placed fixed lens cameras watching your front and back doors.
• Notice that the green zones are facing towards the front yard. You want your cameras to catch the face of an intruder as they enter, not when they exit. Always face cameras in your side yard towards your front yard.
• A note about alarms. Cameras are great when you are home or able to check them. Alarm sensors serve many of same functions as a camera system, but work while you are asleep, not watching them, on vacation, out of cell service, or in another country.

Garage

• Just like with the small house example, place cameras where they can see anywhere near where a person can enter the home, usually this means doors and larger windows.
• Just like with the small house example, place cameras where they can see anywhere near where a person can enter the home, usually this means doors and larger windows.
• Just like with the small house example, always face cameras in your side yard towards your front yard.
• Notice that the green zones in this larger house example, with a larger home, you may have a garage. Garages should be thought of as outside of your security perimeter.
• Garages are the most risky entry point of any home, as thieves or assailants can "tailgate" into the garage when the vehicle enters. Always treat a Garage like it is outside your security perimeter.

Outdoor Assets

• Many homeowners have important assets that they want to secure, but which are outside of the home, this can include AC units, cars, and boats, but also can include secondary structures.
• In this example, we have a carport, detached workshop, and a long driveway.
• The green camera's view watches the car in the carport and part of the driveway.
• The blue camera, a longer range vari-focal camera, watches the long driveway (and the car on it), while also watching people who may try to walk up the driveway to gain access to the workshop.
• Not pictured. There's a secure fence that made other entry points to the backyard or workshop unlikely. Cameras in backyard still recommended, but not shown, as to make the green and blue cameras easier to differentiate.

Indoors

We do not generally recommend cameras indoors, except in these circumstances:

• You have semi-trusted individuals who can enter the home when no one is present - such as a cleaning company, and you suspect them of having committed a crime.
• You have a semi-trusted individual, in the home, who provides caregiving or in-home medical care, and you suspect them of harming that individual or other crimes.
• You care for an individual, in the home, who may harm themselves or others, such as an elder with alzheimer's.

If you are facing these circumstances, here's some guidelines:

• Audio is heavily regulated by federal wiretapping laws and we don't suggest recording audio without consent. A corporate client can post "audio recording on premises signs" and get employees to sign employment contracts that consent to recording, and they still don't do it very often, because of the risks. Homeowners should avoid cameras that record audio, the video may be thrown out by the court for being illegally obtained.
• Unless you have a real, legally-mandated life-safty concern (for example, caring for an elderly person who falls frequently or a child with suicidal ideation), recording video in areas where people have an expectation of privacy, such as bedrooms or bathrooms, is illegal. Homeowners should placing cameras in private areas, the video may be thrown out by the court for being illegally obtained and you may face charges yourself.