Greetings. I live in Dallas Texas - as a
transplant from West Palm Beach. We moved into
an older neighborhood in the downtown area - and
while everyone is friendly, crime is a real issue.
My particular neighborhood has consistent petty
crimes (garage break-ins, yard theft, and some house
burglaries). My new neighbor and I have decided
that rather than join up in the old-fashioned VIP
(drive around in cars.. etc) we should take
advantage of the low cost and abundant technology
in WIFI networks and WIFI enabled cameras. Our
neighborhood is approximately 1 SQ mile, made up
of many small streets, back alleys - 300 homes
in all. What we are thinking is to create
outdoor WIFI hot spots that cover most alley ways
and public streets and then use WIFI enabled
cameras which can access these hotspots and provide
either streaming video or take snpashots every few
seconds. Homeowners who have DSL service would be
given a 'kit' which wouls support an outdoor WIFI
transceiver, or camera, or both.
What I am seeking is advice from anyone who has
developed and executed a concept such as this
successfully. I am skilled at home WIFI and
and a mobile phone engineer by trade - so I
understand the technology. Our goal is to put
real or dummry cameras at virtually every home
(these would be privately owned cameras observing
public property) and post signs that the neighborhood
is being filmed - to discourage crime. All
video/still images would be deposited on a web
server where we may even be able to recruit MANY
of our senior citizens to spend some time
keeping an eye on their neighborhood from the
security of their own house (a way to help).
