the low lifes are stealing gas from me!

[Down South]

When I was working away from home for 8 yrs not so long ago. "Retired last week" I was worried that thieves would break into my house when away for weeks on end.
I started out with a Canary in my living room then added two more, one on my back patio and one in my boat house.
You don't have to worry about someone stealing the camera because before they can spot it, the footage has already been uploaded to the Cloud for your viewing from any place at anytime.

I removed the boat house cam and replaced it with a Ring floodlight cam. I had video of people coming up to my boathouse at night, getting out on the boathouse and fishing around my underwater green light.
I realized that these people didn't know they were being recorded so that's the reason for the floodlight cam. I also posted signs on three sides of my boat house stating "WARNING: 24 HR VIDEO SURVEILLANCE VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED" I've had no problem since I did that. Actually hardly anyone even fishes around my boathouse anymore which is legal.

I moved the Canary camera from the boat house to one side of my house then, I added a Ring Doorbell cam. I've got five cameras up and operating now and I catch some weird stuff.
All of my cameras record voice and I can speak through any of my cameras too. The one in my living room and the one at the boat house have audible alarms if I choose to set them off.
If anyone comes near this place, I have a video of them. The drawbacks are the cameras are sensitive. I have videos of spiders, bugs flying past the camera, etc.

Oh, if I have a power outage, all of my cameras are on battery backup except the floodlight cam at the boathouse. My WiFi is on battery backup as well.

Now getting back to your idea of a game cam. I had one set up at my RV in Houston. It was camo and I mounted it about 7' up in a tree looking down at an angle. It lasted until I left and worked well but all you get is pics unless you set it up for video. The problem with just pics is the person may have their head turned when it takes the pic.
If you plan to check it often, Vid will work best but it will use a lot more memory and power. You can now get game cams that upload to the cloud but they could be pricey plus you would need some sort of wireless plan and signal.

[smokeywolf]

I hate it when people refer to police as anything other than "civilians". They are neither commissioned or enlisted in the military.

Riverpigusmc,
Not to put too fine a point on it, but in law enforcement organizations and departments, you have "sworn personnel" and "non-sworn personnel". That's where the distinction between police or deputies and "civilians" comes from.

As a one time police officer and now just an old fart, as militarized as some of the departments have become and having a few conversations with some of the youngsters who run around my town in deputy's uniforms and combat boots, I kind of share your feelings.

[tomme boy]

A lot has changed over the years. My better half's father was telling me about when they would "mark" a car or truck. This would come straight from the sheriff. They lived out in the country and they did not have 911 at the time. They pretty much relied on neighbors to protect each other.

Several times he told me that had to go to other farms to look why he seen cars or trucks at night driving around. At that time lots of the farms were just barns that machinery were stored where he was at. Well all of these places also had large tanks of gas also. And everyone knew this. So he would call the Sheriff and tell them someone was snooping around at such and such place and he was going to take a look. Well the Sheriff told him if it was not the owner to "mark" the car or truck. That was to put a hole in it! He said he probably shot 4 or 5 over the years.

So it just depends on the time frame and area of the country. This would NEVER fly today!

[lightman]

I still think the best move would be to set up cameras and get Law Enforcement involved. It would be very satisfying to catch them in the act and work them over with a ball bat. But they probably would eventually come back and damage your car or property. And like oldred stated several times, the homeowner will get in trouble, not the crook.