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I need to warn you about something police officers are seeing every week now. Last month I got a call about a relay car theft incident. Residential street. Victim standing in his driveway. When I pulled up at 7:47am, I could see him from 50ft away. Man in his early 60’s, still in his dressing gown and slippers, just standing there staring at an empty block-paved driveway. His wife was on the doorstep behind him, arms wrapped around herself against the cold, watching him. I've seen that look before. The hollow expression of someone who’s struggling to realise they've been violated while they slept. "Morning sir. You reported a stolen vehicle?" He didn't look at me at first. Just kept staring at the empty space. "Yeah, erm it was a 24 plate Range Rover Sport. Santorini Black. I only bought it in March." His voice was flat. "I retired last year so thought I'd treat myself, you know? Always wanted one." "It was literally right there before I slept, locked and everything." I pulled out my notepad. I've filled out this same report 29 times in the past four months. I asked: "Do you have any CCTV or cameras on the property, sir?" He nodded and pointed to his doorbell camera. "We bought it after my wife’s brother had some trouble at his house. Thought we were being smart." “I’ve checked the app and there’s nothing, it’s like the car bloody teleported” He pulled his phone from his dressing gown pocket with shaking hands. Opened the Ring app. I watched him scroll through the timeline. 10:32pm - His Range Rover sitting on the driveway, exterior lights on. 10:54pm - Same view, lights off now. 1:18am - Same view. 3:47am - Empty driveway. Nothing in between. No movement. No people. No headlights from another vehicle. His £67,000 Range Rover had simply ceased to exist. His is voice cracked. "How is that even possible? The camera's right there. It's supposed to record everything." His wife came down the path and stood next to him. "We paid £130 for that camera. And we're paying them £9 every single month to store the videos." She looked at the empty driveway. "What's the point of it if this can happen?" I've had this conversation over and over again. We've seen car theft up 34% across the UK over the past 8 months Out of the last 29 car thefts I've worked, 19 had doorbell cameras. A lot of the victims were women elderly couples or families. And almost every single case, the footage was either useless or didn't capture anything at all. Here's the big problem with them: 1 - They're Watching The Wrong Area Doorbell cameras are designed to show you who's at your front door. Parcels being delivered, someone ringing your bell, kids trick-or-treating, you get the point. But keyless car thieves are smart. They use relay amplifiers. One man stands with a device that picks up your key fob signal from inside your house. The other stands by your car with a receiver. Your car thinks the key is right there. Unlocks. Starts. Gone. The whole thing takes 40 seconds. Now think of how many times your doorbell hasn’t recorded you walking out your house or up your own drive? 2 - The Night Footage Doesn't Help Us Even when doorbell cameras DO capture something. It's usually black & white shadows. The grainy infrared footage means we can't see faces, clothing details, or vehicle plates. I've reviewed hundreds of these clips. They show some movement but nothing we can actually use to identify suspects. 3 - Thieves Know Exactly Where The Blind Spots Are They’re mounted outside in plain sight where anyone can see them. Thieves know the field of view. They position themselves just outside it. And if they really wanted to, they can rip it off the wall or cover it up in seconds before you even get an alert of capture anything useful. To make things worse… These big-brands usually charge over £100 for the camera. Then charge £96 every year to customers just to access footage we can’t even use. I hate to break the news when they realise that what they thought was protecting them, failed them when they needed it most. I said: "Mr. Harrison, I need to be straight with you. Your doorbell is designed to show you who's at your front door. It's very good at that. But keyless relay attacks often happen just outside the camera's field of view." He looked shocked. "So we've been paying for something that can't actually protect the car." "I'm sorry. We'll do everything we can with what we have." As I was explaining all this, his his neighbor walked over. Older man, maybe late 60s, wearing a fleece and walking his Border Collie. "Maureen texted me, said your Range Rover's gone?” "Christ. I'm sorry mate. Listen, I've got a camera in my front bedroom window. It points out over the street and might've caught something?” I've learned to manage expectations. Every week someone says they have footage and it's always another useless clip. But I said, "Let's have a look." We were due to ask the neigbours if they seen or heard anything anyway. He pulled out his phone. Opened an app I didn't recognise. We scrolled through the clips and didn’t see much. But then I saw actually made my jaw drop. It was 3:04am. Two men walking up the street. In full color. At 3:04am in the morning. Not grainy black and white. Actual color. I could see the North Face logo on the first man's black puffer jacket. I could see the green Nike tick on the second man's trainers. Within about 30 seconds later the Range Rover door was open. They got in. Engine started. And sped off the drive. But here's what made me grab the phone from the neighbor's hand. The first man got into a silver VW Golf parked three houses down which was used as a getaway vehicle. This added vital information we could use capture the criminals. I said: "Can you send me this? Right now? This is evidence we can work with." I asked what system he had because I figured it must be expensive. He goes: "It's called SafeView, you just stick it inside your window” "I got it five months ago after my friend had a break-in." “Think I paid under £50 and you don’t need a monthly subscription either." I've worked this job for 25 years. I've seen £3,000 CCTV systems with worse footage than this. After reviewing that footage, I understood why window cameras are much better for home security. 1 - They Can’t Be Disabled Window cameras sit inside behind glass. They can’t be smashed, covered or ripped off the wall. People can’t even see them from outside or know which window they’re in. Those thieves had no idea that camera existed, they just walked into view and got recorded in full colour. 2 - They Cover All Blind Spots Instead of just watching your doorstep, these can go in any window. Front room or bedroom overlooking your driveway. Back window covering your garden. Side window watching your garage. You can have multiple cameras for complete protection for less money than one doorbell camera. 3 - Footage That Can Identify Criminals. The colour night vision on that camera was enough to identify specific clothing. With this key information we’re able to profile and make arrests. It's the difference between: "Someone in a dark hoodie" and "Male, 20s, red Nike hoodie" Without this, criminals walk free. We had officers extensively test SafeView cameras down the station and in-training and the results have been amazing. We’ve now been recommending them to car theft victims and homeowners. They’re affordable, and don’t need a monthly subscription. It saves everything onto the memory card that’s already inside the camera. Plus, they don’t require any tools or complex setup. So anyone, young or old, can have the up in 10 minutes. You just stick it to the window and connect to the app & WiFi. After seeing the footage from his neighbour, Mr. Harrison ordered 2 SafeView cameras. One for the front & one for the back. We arrested both men using the information from his neighbour’s camera. His Range Rover was recovered parked up down a side road. Usually car thieves will leave it somewhere for a few days to see if it has a tracking device on it. Turns out they'd hit three other cars that month. I went back to see Mr. Harrison four days later to tell him we'd recovered his car. He nearly cried, then showed me the two SafeView cameras he had bought and set up. They were set it to alert for only human motion. So if anyone comes near his driveway, it records right away and he’ll get a notification to his phone. The scary truth for anyone reading this…. If you've got a doorbell camera, you're not just unprotected. You're just watching your doorstep while the rest of your property is completely blind. Window camera are much better option in 2026. Criminals don't know they're being recorded until it's too late. Right now the SafeView camera is 45% off (it’s even cheaper if you buy more than one) Here's the link to get them: https://www.monremi.com/pages/camukv3 Put them in your front & back windows. Upstairs or downstairs. Takes 15 minutes. No monthly fees. And if something does happen, you'll have evidence we can actually use. Don't become another victim because your security fails when you need it the most. Or even worse, you don’t have any security at all. Get something that actually works. Over 150+ vehicles get stolen everyday, yours could be next. You don’t want to be standing in your driveway at 7am looking at where your car once was. Stay safe out there! P.S. They come with a 90-day money back guarantee so you can try them out P.P.S. Even if you use these as a backup camera to protect the areas your doorbell can’t cover it’s 100% worth it. Here's the link: https://www.monremi.com/pages/camukv3