r/mildlyinfuriating • u/violet_evergarden8 • 12h ago

Don't hug me I'm scared Neighbor across installed a camera on their railing pointed directly at my bedroom window

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u/StaticSystemShock 10h ago

Laser will destroy the camera sensor. It'll also be a costly thing for the creep. And he can't report it to police as property destruction coz he'll have hard time explaining why camsea is point at yoir bedroom window...

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u/cykoTom3 4h ago

The legality of pointing a camera out your window is gonna vary wildly from place to place. The legality of deliberately destroying someone else's property is not. Not saying i wouldn't do that, but maybe see if the police can get involved first? And if you do destroy their camera, make it an accident.

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u/Hedge55 3h ago

You could always just place a mirror where the beam redirects to the camera. Then pretend you don’t know how light physics works.

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u/StaticSystemShock 3h ago

It's not protecting their balcony, it's on railing pointed at this persons window. There is nothing questionable about it.

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u/cykoTom3 3h ago

I mean...it's not even pointed at their window.

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u/Rock_Strongo 2h ago

Reddit is always quick to suggest things that could definitely lead to legal problems.

"Just destroy their property" is usually not great advice.

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u/cykoTom3 1h ago

It definitely isn't good advice when they say "destroy it and when the cops show up tell them all about how it was premeditated "

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u/Icy_Chemist_1725 38m ago edited 33m ago

What about if they don't call the police? What if they move instead and then know where you live and then destroy your property, but you can't prove it and don't know where they live or even who they are?

15 years ago a psycho neighbor scratched my car because they thought I scratched their car(but it was just a random person that parked in my parking spot that dinged their door when i was at work). I told the neighbor that I couldn't have done it and they doubled down and basically threatened me saying if I called the police they would just escalate on me in ways the police couldn't prove.

So I pretended like they "won" and looked for a new place to live a few months later when my lease was expiring. I waited 6 months after I moved and went and spray painted "Threats are dangerous." on the front hood of their car and then broke the driver side window and took a hammer to the steering column and ignition and destroyed it and left.

I got a call about two months later from the local police department and asked if I did it and wanting to have a conversation with me and I told them "No, but I remember those people had beef with everyone in the building and I haven't lived there in over 6 months." Never had any consequences or other questions.

That also tells me that those people had to spend time and energy reporting me to the police and realized no one could help them. I also know that their insurance rates probably went up from that claim in addition to any deductible.

If you really think the people you are dealing with are not good people, it's probably unwise to engage in illegal activity that destroys their property when they know exactly where you live. If they are genuinely watching you, they will know it was you that destroyed the camera. It's bad strategy all around.

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u/cykoTom3 34m ago

Wow. That was an interesting read so i upvoted it. You should probably be careful about sharing that unless the statute of limitations is up.

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u/Upbeat-Employ-3689 58m ago

This is why I would get naked and wear the laser on my body, wander around a while, do normal things, then hit a pose that fries their camera. Then when they present the evidence that you killed their camera they get in trouble!

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u/FailedGradAdmissions 3h ago

OP was just playing with a laser and their cat… maybe they never knew there was a camera there

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u/cykoTom3 3h ago

Exactly. Though i doubt this story will work if you have a fire starting laser.

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u/Icy_Chemist_1725 54m ago edited 48m ago

Wrong! I actually had a neighbor do this to my camera that was pointing at the street. I reported it to police as damage to my property and my other camera caught them damaging my main camera. They got arrested for it. It's not illegal to point a camera at the street. This camera probably had a large and adjustable field of view. Proving that it was pointed at your home for malicious purposes is a lot harder than proving that you damaged their property.

Also keep in mind that if this person is actually a creep and is actually using a camera to record you in an illegal way, do you really want to create an escalation that puts you on unstable legal footing with a person that might be willing to not involve law enforcement at all. For all you know, you actually met a serial killer and now you're their focus.

Is that actually worth the risk for a camera that isn't that expensive? This camera shown is not that pricey anyway. The laser to destroy the camera will likely cost as much as the camera and will create a perfect paper trail showing you had a clear intent to destroy the property. Most people do not own lasers that can fry camera sensors.

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u/StaticSystemShock 50m ago

Street in front of your house is not the same as this directly at window upwards. Can't be with anyone that has a bit of brain in law enforcement.