My bike was stolen over the weekend. It was not a super expensive bicycle, but it was my bicycle. And, it was in my garage. And, it was stolen in mid-daylight. And, it was stolen while my mother-in-law was baby sitting our daughter in the house.

This was not a grab-and-go. The thief walked into my garage off the street,* went to the bike, put on the tires, maybe even pumped them full of air, and biked away.

How do I know what happened?? Because just the day before the robbery, we installed a Nest Outdoor Cam on our house. I’ve been toying around with the idea of an outdoor camera for a long time, but the costs just seemed way too high. Enter the Outdoor Nest Cam,** at $249 and with really easy installation.*** In fact, since posting video’s of the robbery, many people have been reaching out to me asking what type of camera I use because the picture quality is excellent.

Does anyone know this asshole? Please ask him for my stolen bike back. Thanks. (Cut 5 minutes while he’s in the garage, putting on the tires) A post shared by Matthew Slutsky (@islutsky) on Sep 24, 2017 at 8:59am PDT

Many people have asked me if cameras actually work, and what is their purpose?

Obviously it did not deter the scumbag from stealing my property. With the video the cops still haven’t found the jerk. And, I don’t watch the camera 24/7, so I couldn’t call 9-1-1 while it was actually happening.

All the above is all true, but thanks to the video we have a good image of the guy, and we have the entire thing documented and reported to the police. Further, with the camera, I get real time notifications when a person enters on to our property – unfortunately, we were in New York when it happened, and I didn’t see the notification until an hour after the bike robbery.

Of course, having my bike stolen sucks. But, the real scary thing was that my family was in our house – who knows what would have happened if someone came outside with our baby while he was in the garage.

Now, down to the lesson’s learned and take aways:

Don’t leave anything out in the open unattended. You might notice that our stroller was also sitting outside of the garage – if fact, he almost knocks it over when he bikes away. This stroller is more expensive than the bike, and I am so happy he did not steal it. So, no matter how safe you feel, don’t leave anything out and in the open. Obvious one, but always close your garage and lock your doors – you have no idea who is out there lurking about. Bad things don’t only happen at night. This happened at 10am on a Sunday. Having a security camera will not deter criminals, jerks, thieves, or dirty rotten scoundrels. But, they can notify you in real time, and give you more evidence for the police. The cops really don’t seem to care much about this sort of thing, so I’ve been sure to make sure all my neighbours know what happened. In doing so, I’ve found that this is a really common occurrence in my neighbourhood, along with car robberies. But, people do not report it, meaning that the Police have no idea how often this type of robbery actually occurs. If people reported theft more often, the police might care more.

Notes:

* Yes, yes, yes. The garage was left open. We were in New York, and my mother-in-law forgot to close it.

**Nest sent me the Outdoor Nest Cam at no charge. I stand to make no monetary gains from this post from Nest or any of it’s affiliates.

*** Even though installation is really easy, I hired someone to do it.